


The Relativity of Riley

by tinedanxer



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alien Abduction, Alien Romance, Alien Sex, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-05-07 08:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19205629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinedanxer/pseuds/tinedanxer
Summary: Love is what you do with it. I used it to stop a war and kill a planet.I sighed and looked away.  “Tchai, you don’t know what's chasing me.”“I know more than you think.”  He captured my jaw in his hand and brought my face back to his.  My eyes landed on his lips.  He pressed his forehead to mine.  “I am not the Chief of the Sixth Tribe of the Mighty Ekrat because my genes fit.”Oh, but his jeans fit so well.  My eyes cut sidelong and I stifled a giggle.  His thumb slid over my bottom lip.He whispered, “You are safe here…”  My gaze lifted.His hooded eyes smoldered in the firelight.  “…Riley.”My heart lurched sideways.  I drew a shaky breath.  His arm still held me close.  That soft thumb brushed over my bottom lip again.  My breath caught.  Our lips met.  Soft, and tentative at first.  All the need from these past years pushed against the dam of my resolve.





	1. Relativity of Riley -- Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Work in Progress. The title, chapters, and scenes may change. There may also be an occasional hiatus as I try to finish the story. If I change anything along the way, I'll make notes everywhere to let you know.

Love is what you do with it. I used it to stop a war and kill a planet.

 

 

Emerald feathers smoothed under his fingers.  Oils spread along each shaft making them gleam.  Tchai smiled to himself.  Perched on his favorite cliff, he peered out at the desert.  Lush vegetation and broad palm leaves in the Oasis blend with his natural green coloring.  His grey-green eyes scanned the horizon. 

“What are you doing, little brother?”  asked a black figure with his orange tipped wings pressed tight to his body.

Tchai's smile evaporated as his gaze shifted to the small hologram projecting from his wristband.  “Guarding my tribe, Zendry.”

The hologram shook his head, one palm slipped over his striped face.  He pushed orange tipped fingers through his crest with a heavy sigh.  “And what are you _supposed_ to be doing?”

Tchai turned back to the most recent wreckage to drop from the sky.  Another derelict ship, sticking out as a smudge on the heat warped horizon. 

“Tchai.  Are you listening to me?”

His gaze flicked to his brother.  “What do you want, Zendry?”

The figure shift to his weight to both feet, hands on hips, wings slightly flared.  “We are completely dependent on you and your tribe to supply our ships, little brother--"

“Stop calling me that,” Tchai looked away.

“ _Little brother?_   Tchai, when the day comes that you start _acting_ like the Sixth Prince of the Mighty Ekrat that you're _supposed_ to be, I’ll consider addressing you in a more _grown up_ fashion!”

Tchai rolled his eyes and continued to watch the horizon where the new ship had crashed.  “I’m out here for a reason, Zendry.  Not that _you_ would know anything about _my_ duties.”

The hologram folded his arms over his chest and glared down at his brother.  “And what reason have you made up to excuse _this_ excursion across all of Uraias?”

A small shadow flickered over a dune.

Tchai scowled.

He shifted in his perch, leaning forward, fingers gripping the edge of the rock.  His wings shuffled against his back and his feathers flattened. 

“I’m guarding my people, like I said.  There was another derelict crash.”

Zendry shrugged.  “What of it? “

The shadow moved down one side of the dune and disappeared.  Tchai's eyes opened wide, pupils spiraling to draw in the image.

“I think… there might be something…”

 The shadow emerged on the next dune.  It staggered, dropped, raised, and plodded on.

Zendry’s feathers flared.  “Tchai, I swear to--" he raised a hand pointing at the distracted prince, “If you don’t stop chasing these ghosts and--"  Tchai's black fingered hand swiped over the arm band cutting off the comm.  He stretched his wings, tasting the air.  Heat plumes drifted over the cliff, catching his flight feathers and tugging at his instincts.  He launched.

The creature below struggled through sand on two legs.  It appeared to be Ekrat, one of his own, except… where were its wings?  He cocked his head as he studied the biped from a steady updraft high above.  It wiped its brow, shaking a clear liquid off its arm.  The Prince frowned.  How did it get wet in a desert—better yet, how was it _still_ wet in the desert heat.  The creature puzzled him, but its direction bothered him.  An injured Ekrat would be welcomed and nursed back to health.  Intruders… must be destroyed.  Tchai winced.  It had to be an injured Ekrat.  It certainly _looked_ like a wingless, featherless Ekrat.  He shivered at the thought of how many mites it would take to lose that much plumage as it reached the edge of the Oasis.

The Emerald Chieftain lighted in a palm tree, watching the pale creature approach.  It stared up at him, displaying none of the usual respects paid to the Ekrat Princes.  His feathers fluffed at the sleight.  Must be one of Zendry’s troops.  His gaze narrowed into a hawkish glare.  The thing covered itself, waist to toe, in a gray second skin.  The upper torso swaddled with a dirty linen.  It’s bare arms shimmered,  in the sunlight.  Tchai’s eyes settled on the creature’s chest.  Yes, this would definitely pass as an injured Ekrat.  It was also female.  He cocked his head to one side, how did her crest feathers fall so thin and fine from her head?  Long and limp, the slender strands hung halfway down her back in an ebony cascade.  It was almost exotic, despite her naked, featherless skin. 

He hummed to himself as she skirted his tree, giving him a wide berth.  She did not recognize his authority.  His feathers ruffled along his back and his wings twitched.  Even his crest stiffened.  Tchai licked his soft gray lips and sighed.  This little bird would get herself killed if she continued closer to the Starship landing pads.  She was meandering randomly, lost and apparently confused.   Any Ekrat that couldn’t recognize one of the Princes _must_   be confused, and he refused admit she might not be Ekrat.  Nobody needed to be slaughtered today.  This lost creature was a mutilated Ekrat.  Nothing less.

He smirked.  It was exactly this line of reasoning that kept him off the front lines.  First Prince Zendry would lose his mind over what the Sixth Prince was allowing.  But Zendry left three deca-rotations ago on a one revolution mission.  Tchai watched the female trek toward a waterfall, lured by the cool moisture and promise of refreshment.  Uraiyas, the cannibal planet, slumbered after its last meal.  No one but his most trusted would know of this little indulgence in curiosity. 

She bent low, picking through the detritus beside the trail.  The female raised her head, peering through the thick vegetation.  She looked up.  Tchai’s colors melted into his surrounding, rendering him invisible, as he touched down several lengths away.  Leaves crinkled beneath his feet.  Her head whipped around.  She stared at him, squinting, head tilted to one side.  She stalked closer.  He held still.  She tiptoed passed, oblivious to his presence.  He grinned, twisting to follow her progress.  When she wandered far enough away, he leapt for the sky and landed once more just ahead of her, leading her up the slope to where the spring water crested the fall. 

Further down the path he diverted her from, his people lounged, enjoying the sun in their feathers.  But the waterfall obscured the base, the landing pads, and all their activities from intrusive eyes.  The clatter of the spring at the top of the plateau drew her attention away from his mischief.  She broke into a run and dove to her knees at the edge.  He glided to the other side of the stream, letting his plumage fade back to his natural greens.  Her thirst blinded her to all else.  Keeping his attention fixed on her, he absently teased oils into his blue tipped flight feathers, pulling them around his shoulder so they fanned across his body in a colorful display. 

Her thirst abated, she sat  back on her heels, face to the sky, eyes slitted, satisfaction curving her pink lips.  She sighed.  Her head dropped forward.  She froze.  Her eyes met his.  Widened.  White rimmed.  Fear.  He smelled it floating across the shallow pool, tainted with a rising aggression.  His feathers pricked by instinct.  Her hand moved to her back.  He hissed.  She ceased moving.  And they stared. 

“Who are you,” The Prince demanded.  Her face scrunched.  Her head tilted.  She replied in that cursed Galactic Common language.  He ignored the insult.  That tongue was not allowed here.  She would learn this.  He repeated his question.  Her jaw slackened, the pupils of her eyes dilated just a tad.  Her aggressive scent shifted, overlaid with a taste of awe.  He blinked a few times.  What an odd reaction.  

She shook her head and spoke again, but this time in an unrecognizable language.  Hard consonants cradled the softer vowel sounds and the music to it was flat, but the tone lilted at the end.  He glanced around as if someone else might have heard her.  No, their solitude remained intact.  She stepped into the water, speaking again in that new language.  His head tilted to the side, but he reared back as she approached.  She paused, hands in front of her.  Placating.  His pupils spiraled, pinning small then wide then small.  It was a clear warning—one she did not heed.  She moved again.  Tchai growled as her hand slipped behind her back.  He fingered the throwing daggers sheathed in his belt.

“I am Sixth Prince Tchai of the Mighty Ekrat.  You trespass here.  You’re aggressions will not be tolerated.  Place your weapons before me and you will not be harmed.”

 She continued to speak in the foreign language.  Her hip cocked, one hand palm up between them, she shifted her weight side to side.  Her other hand slipped into a pocket.  He stood to his full height, gazing eye to eye with her.  His wings flashed out in a colorful display, feathers and crest stood on end.  She backpedaled.  Her footing slipped.  For a tiny moment, her rounded eyes met his with a terrified plea.  The thin black strands of her crest floated across her face.  Her body drifted sideways in a cant, arms flung wide, mouth opening to scream.  Then she was gone.  Over the falls.

Tchai took a second to blink, shake his head clear, and sigh, before he dove down the falls after her. He tucked his wings, racing to catch her before her body shattered on the rocks below.  His outstretched hands clasped hers.  She clung to him, climbing his arms.  He spread his wings. 

And screamed. 

Pain shot through every nerve in his body as all his feathers twisted under her weight.  He strained, flapping, gritting his teeth against the agony.  She was too much.  Their decent did not slow.  He cried out and rolled her away from the rocks toward the open water, then he pried her hands from his arms.  She yanked his plumage with her.  Her shrieks pierced the air between them.

He fluttered to the shore, landing hard as she crashed into the water.  The spray soaked him.  Tchai plunged in, grabbing the female and pulling her to the shore.  She coughed and choked, vomited water, curled around herself.  Her brown eyes rolled back as she spluttered unknown words.  Red blood trickled from her mouth. 

“No, no, no!”  Tchai’s hands raced over her body, feeling broken ribs, a snapped spine, dislocated shoulder, a shattered leg… He covered his face with his hands.  “Don’t die!  Just… don’t die!  _Please_.”  He triggered an alert via the bracelet on his wrist. He lashed together long branches and vines into a makeshift body splint. 

“Just, please don’t die!”  His fingers curled in the air before his face with a wordless yell.  “How are you so damned clumsy!”  He grabbed the ends of his splint, shuddering at her gurgled moan.  “Please don’t die.”   Dots dropped from the sky in the form of his on-call guard. 

“She’s too heavy to fly with.  We have to carry her.”

The guards looked from their Prince to the pale biped tied up with branches to the top of the cliff.  Tchai affirmed.  Four guards grabbed up the branches and a fifth attended to the Prince’s bent and damaged wings.  The emerald Ekrat followed in the wake of his guards, limping and dragging his wings.  If she survived the trek, he would make sure she recovered under his direct attention.  It was the least he could do for scaring her off the cliff.  Stupid, clumsy…

He blew breath through his teeth.  _That one_ was a mess.

 

 


	2. Relativity of Riley -- Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley is taken; the adventure begins. Captivity does not suit her well.

“We have inbound.”

The co-pilot turned, his face scrunched.  “What _is_ that?”

I gripped my seat and twisted to watch the exchange behind me.  The pilot shook his head.  “Some top secret something or another bull shit.  We’ll all be _debriefed_ when we RTB.”

“Huh.  It’s gone again.”

The flutter in my heart subsided.  I leaned back in my seat strapped to the wall separating cockpit and crew cab.  My gaze returned to the open door of the MH-63.  Desert sand writhed gracefully underneath.  The chopper’s shadow danced along the ground chasing little swirls of dust out of our path.  The thump of the rotor blades soothed my mind.  My hand found my tether and tugged.  Secure.  Five pairs of eyes watched me.  Tight lipped faces etched by too many days without sleep.  I kept expression from my face.  The small fire team wore combat helmets, but, as load chief, mine contained a headset to communicate with the pilots.  The soldiers hadn’t heard the shiver of concern in the co-pilot’s voice.

_Snnkt._

“ _Shit._ ”

It happened fast.  The co-pilot hissed curses, the pilot bled out, the helicopter slammed into something, and the rotors curled back on us, chopping the cab into sections.  I stared.  Body parts, blood, and metal chunks whirled around me caught in a hellish tornado.  And as my thick black hair slapped across olive skin, I stared at it all.  Frozen in a nightmare.  One by one, the pieces fell from the sky, but the back wall of the cockpit—and my seat—remained in the air.  My eyes followed the debris.  Then I looked up.  A stringy line of white light stretched from a small black circle to the wall of the disassembled helicopter.  Shadows shifted at the edges of the circle like ants.  The circle grew.  I glanced down.  The ground shrank. 

I told myself I wasn’t surrendering to anything.  It’s just there’s really nothing I could do strapped to a chair dangling from a rope made of light.  My fingers slid the M9 from my cross-draw holster and released the safety.  I pulled my skull bandana over my nose and mimicked the cross symbol over my temples like the catholic soldiers did before they jumped into battle.  I wasn’t catholic, but it couldn’t hurt, right?

When I reached the edge of the circle, a Crocodile wearing a dew rag and a black leather vest, stood on long legs with a rifle to its shoulder. I raised my weapon.  But it fired first.

 

I woke up in a cage.  With metal bars.  It hovered four feet off the floor.  My head throbbed.  I licked dry lips with a drier tongue.  Outside the cage an expansive room filled with warm light.  An enormous pallet sat to one side and the wall bordered me on two sides.  Counters and tables and desks glowed in tidy arrangements speaking of a mind obsessed with order.  Everything gleamed with a metallic luster.  The room’s accouterments stood awkwardly tall.  I sat up and took it all in. 

The door whooshed open.  I scrambled to the back of the cage.  A humanoid creature’s feet clinked on the floor as it strolled in.  It dropped clear glass rectangles on a desk and tapped at holographic screens which sprang to life in response to its presence.  White armor covered every inch of the metal biped.  I made myself as small as possible in the corner.  The thing spoke in what sounded like nothing, but vowel sounds and something in one of the screens responded in clicking noises.  I buried my head in my hands. 

“Any minute now,” I whispered to myself, “You’ll wake up in a hospital.”  I peeked through my fingers but the screens hung in the air, abandoned.  My gaze whipped around the room.  “It’s just hallucinations from the concussion.”

“Nah, now, Little Lady.  You ain’t gotta be like that.”

Screams ripped from my throat as I tried to press through the bars behind me.  The creature pulled its hand back from my cage.  Its blue eyes widened and flashed pale.  I ran my fingers along my calves searching for my boot knives.

“Oh, I’ve got those.  You can’t have them.”  It smiled at me.  I pulled my legs tight to my chest.  The creature frowned, shook its head and turned toward the pallet.  “You’re not concussed.  You were checked out.”  It gazed sidelong at me over its shoulder.  “Prime specimen, you are.”  It winked, then turned back to the pallet.  Ice trickled through my chest.  One of it's finely segmented hands ran over the top of the pallet.  The plush material smoothed under its fingers.  “I tell ya what.  I’ll go get you a tray of some good eats from the galley and give you a minute to digest what you’ve just seen.  K?”  It nodded to me and strolled out the door.

My hands shook as I unwrapped myself from the corner.  I inspected each individual bar, the floor, the ceiling, and if this cage wasn’t forged in one piece around me, then it hadn’t been made at all.  My hands gripped the metal and squeezed hard.  I grit my teeth and yanked with all my strength.  I repeated this until I screamed with each effort.  Finally, I leaned my head against the warm metal and sank to my knees choking back a sob.  At this point the door opened and the creature reappeared with a small tray in its grasp.  The delicious smell of roast beef and mashed potatoes made my terrified stomach churn.  I peered up at the creature from where I crouched. 

It stopped a few steps away and watched me tremble.  The thing’s eyes burned a bright blue, similar to the electric blue piping running between joints and in lines over its white armor.  A black helmet crowned its head, trimmed with blue piping and topped with two stubby horns, one on either side of a black mohawk.  The bottom edge of a recessed visor glinted from under the helmet.  Pistons and cabling peeked from the junctures of its neck, shoulders, and chest armor.  I couldn’t decide if the face was metal or if it was plated to resemble metal.

It shifted its weight from one foot to the other.  I took a deep, shuddering breath. 

“You… got it all out of your system now?  Cause if I give you this tray… and it ends up on the floor…” It pointed down with its free hand.  “I’m gonna be mad.”  It cocked its head to one side.  “This is my personal quarters and I don’t appreciate you making a mess up in here.  Understand?”  It tilted its head down and fixed me with a stern gaze.  “Understand?”

“You…” my voice cracked in my dry throat, but I pressed on.  “Speak….”

“Speak English, yes.  Of course, I do.”  It nodded.  It held up one finger.  “Oh.  I forgot.  You screamed and I forgot…”  It looked around and set the tray on the pallet.  “Welcome onboard The Bane.”  One hand fisted and tapped against its chest below the shoulder.  It bent forward in a shallow bow then straightened.  “I’m Admiral Elias of the Galactic Consulate’s Armada and the First Contact Officiate.  You, Miss…”  Its eyes flashed a paler blue.  “Miss Riley Cho.  You are my guest during your travels.  Currently, you are confined until such time as I deem you not to be a threat to yourself or a nuisance to my crew.  Upon arrival at your destination, you will be returned to your confinement for transfer of possession.  This bodes to be a long trip—your planet really is on the outer reaches—and it is my hope that you will behave in such a manner as to earn some freedoms.” 

It picked up the tray and slid it through a slot which materialized when the tray neared and disappeared as soon as the tray passed.  My jaw dropped open. 

The creature continued, “These are your rations.  I will bring your meals regularly and on a schedule best suited to your physiological needs.  Should you earn those freedoms I spoke of, you will have access to the galley and you can get your own rats.”  It winked again.  “For now, I suggest you rest up, ‘cause you just had one hella shock and you need to adjust.  It’ll take some time.  We’ll go slow.”

I stared at the food.  My stomach did flips.  “How… do you…”  I squinted at the creature and swallowed hard.  “I mean, why do you talk and sound like a Hollywood actor?”

The creature grinned wide and bounced on the balls of its mechanical feet.  “Ha!  Even under all this pressure, you come through!”  It pointed at me.  “I _knew_ they grabbed a good one the minute I saw ya.  To answer your question, it’s in the programming I wrote for myself.  I’m sure you noticed—” It swung about in a dancing pose, displaying its body.  “I am biomechanical.  I’m a Cyta.  Which makes me very adaptable.  I chose that actor because I like him.  Earth cultures are fun, by the way.  One of my favorites.  Anyway, I created a relatable mod through which to filter communications in order to make you feel more at ease.”  It paused, tapped one finger against its plated cheek, and added, “And because Earth cultures are fun.”  It flashed its wide grin again.

“So, this is fake, then.  It’s not really you?”

The creature frowned.  “That’s a complicated question with a _very_ complicated answer.  Most of which is classified well above your pay grade, Little Lady.  But you need to eat and rest.  Tomorrow you’ll start training.”

“Training for what?  Why am I here?  Where am I going?” 

It held up a hand and my gush of questions choked off in my mouth.

“We speak several languages on this ship alone.  It would be in your best interest to learn some of them.  Where you’re going, they don’t speak English.   I’ll start you with Common Tongue, more formally known as Galactic Dominant.  We only have a couple months by the way you measure time, so you’ll want to get a jump on it.  As for the rest of your questions—We’ll work on those answers as your mastery of Common Tongue improves.”  It winked, spun on its heels, and left the room. 

I stared at the door for several long minutes.  One last question hung in the air around me:  How do I go to the bathroom in here?  I looked over the tray, heaped with food and three large cups of what looked like water.  Thirst pinched at my throat and despite my misgivings, I downed all three cups at once.  I left the food alone.

 

Shards of glass ripped through my lower abdomen every time I moved.  I stifled a moan.  The robotic thing, calling itself an Admiral, stood at the far end of the room and tapped at floating screens.  A small device clipped to its wrist sent lines and geometric shapes whirling through the space surrounding it with each flick.  I watched my captor and shifted uncomfortably. The need to pee dominated my thoughts, but I wanted privacy.  And a place to go.  I squeezed my legs tighter against another spasm.

The creature sighed.  Its arms dropped, shoulders slumped, and it swung its head in my direction.  It blinked.  Lifted one arm.  Pointed to a corner of the cage.  “Over there.”  Its extended hand waved me up.  “Before your biology overcomes your stamina.”  It wagged a finger at me.  “No messes.”  Then it turned back to its screens.

I struggled to the corner and looked around.  Nothing in particular caught my attention.   This part of the cage mirrored every other corner.  I turned toward the creature and opened my mouth to speak, but orange sparkles filled my vision.  They tickled against my skin and closed in on me.  I writhed and swiped at them—each movement required more effort than the last until the sparkles held me still.  My eyes squeezed shut as terror ripped through my gut.  My bladder emptied.  Then the sparkles released me and winked out of existence. 

I looked down.  I swiped at my dry trousers in disbelief.  My bladder _had_ emptied.  I gaped at the Admiral thing.  It smirked and winked at me.  My fingers pressed to my temples as I shook my head and curled up against the bars.

“Any day now you’re going to _trust_ me.”  It smiled to itself as it continued drawing lines and swirls in the air.

I hissed through my teeth.  Its head snapped around, one brow raised above the other, mouth set in a flat line.  I shrank back despite the distance and metal bars between us.  It rubbed the bridge of its nose. 

“Mrs. Riley Cho.  You are a guest aboard my ship, The Bane, but I will not tolerate insubordination from _anyone_.”  It hit me with a stern glare.  “Are we clear?”

I dropped my gaze and looked away, then nodded.

“Good,” It said.  “I believe you’re due for another food tray.  Maybe this time, you’ll actually eat it.”

As soon as the doors closed behind the Admiral thing I resumed my exploration of the cage.  The thing presented a seamless barrier between me and freedom.  My escape plan began and ended with, _get out of the cage._   Afterwards, I could determine my next step, beyond the obvious evade and hide from my captor.   If I could figure out where I was at, I could figure out how to get back home.

I stopped at the front of the cage where the old tray still sat, cold and untouched.  Most of the shock wore off by now and my stomach ate at me in reminder of my lack of nutrition over the last… I didn’t know how long.  I sighed and crouched near the bottom of the cage.  The bars joined the floor without so much as a welded joint, but when the Admiral thing approached with the tray, a slot opened.  I measured the tray against my own body.  With luck, the opening would be tall enough to squeeze through. 

I shoved the tray at the bars.  It clinked against them.  I tried a few more times with the same result.  I emptied the tray onto the floor of my cage—disregarding the stern warning not to make a mess—and slid the tray between the bars to try it from the outside.  Nothing.  Activation must not have been in the tray, but in the Admiral thing itself.  I shook my head and rubbed my temples.  The door opened and in walked my captor with a new tray.  I frowned.  Now or never.

It approached the cage, one arm extended, holding the tray, but its gaze diverted to the pile of cold food on the floor beside me.  I watched as the tray met the bars.

“Miss Riley Cho, what have you—”

The bars raised and I dove.  The Admiral thing pulled its hand back, releasing the tray.

“RILEY, NO!”

I slid part way under the bars before pain sliced through my chest.  My lungs seized.  My heart beat sideways.  A squishing sound assaulted my ears followed by the gush of liquid splashing over the floor below the cage.  I looked up at the Admiral thing.  Its wide eyes whitened in color, mouth hung open, and cheek plates pulled tight.  I couldn’t breathe.  My mouth worked like a fish, but nothing happened.  I glanced down at my own blood pooling below me, running down my dangling arms, and then I smirked at the Admiral thing.  I was its prisoner no longer.  My vision blackened around the edges.

My captor chattered in that vowels only language.  The syllables rapid and underscored by an urgent tone.  My neck gave out and my head lolled.  The door whooshed open.  Footsteps loped nearer. 

“Miss Riley Cho,” the Admiral thing spoke.  “This can be fixed.”

Another voice croaked, “Miss Riley Cho.  I will put you to sleep now.  You will feel no pain.”

Put me to sleep like unconscious, or put me to sleep like dead?  My eyes slit open.  The blood on the floor blurred in my narrowed, darkened vision.  Probably dead.  They were going to kill me faster instead of letting me bleed out.  The corners of my gasping mouth tugged upward.  _I win, Motherfuckers._

 

I gasped.  My lungs drew in a sharp, painful breath.  My heart beat against sore ribs.  I opened my eyes, but nothing happened.  I tried to roll over, but a heavy weight pinned me down.  A small moan escaped my dry throat.  My head hurt.  My second moan turned to a growl when I tried to lift my arm and rub my temples but couldn’t.

“Shh.”

My head snapped to the sound.  At least I could turn my head.

“Take it easy, Little Lady.”

I wanted to bang my head against a wall.  Anger filled my mind and pulsed in time to the throb of my migraine.

“No one’s gonna hurt you.”

I frowned and glared in the direction of the Admiral thing’s voice.

“Not even _you_.”  It tsk-tsked at me.  If only I could roll my eyes.  “I gotta hand it to ya, Miss Riley Cho.  You surprised me.  That’s a rare thing, baby girl.  Nothing ever surprises me these days—but _you_ sure did.”

I sighed and turned my head away.

“I can’t see.”

“Ah.  Hold on a sec.” 

A soft click sounded in my ears followed by a whine of electronics powering on.  Then the room materialized inside my mind.  I tried to backpedal off the pallet I lay upon, but my limbs still rested motionless and unresponsive.

“What!”  I panted.  My voice found a higher octave.  “What is this?”

“Shh.  Calm, Miss Riley—may I call you Riley?  There’s just you and me here.  It’s a very informal setting.  You can call me Elias.  How about that?”

“What the fuck, Elias!  What is going on?  Why can’t I see?”

“You _are_ seeing, Riley.”

I glared at the Admiral thing again.  It sat next to the pallet where my blood had spilled over the floor.  It grinned and waved.  I tried to slap a hand over my face, but again, my limbs remained weighted in place.  So I yelled wordless frustration at the ceiling, instead.

“Why can’t I move?  What the actual fuck, over!”

“Riley!”

I glared at it again.

“I’m gonna need you to control yourself.  I understand these sensations are very new to you.  But if you can’t calm down I’ll have to bring my chief medical officer in here to sedate you.  I’m _trying_ to help you adjust and prepare for what lays ahead of you, but you gotta meet me halfway, girl.”

The blood drained from my face. “What… what lays ahead of me?” 

It leaned back, a knowing smirk on its face, and steepled its fingers in its lap.  “One thing at a time, baby girl.  One thing at a time.”  It reached to the floor beside it and produced a cup from which it sipped.  “The blood vessels in your eyes burst after your little stunt.  Your eyes are healing nicely.  But my ship does not have a full compliment of medical equipment for humans, since its illegal to transport live humans under any other circumstances.”

I shivered.  “ _Live_ humans?”

It held up a hand.  “One thing at a time.  We had to make do with what we got.  You’re very fortunate that Chief Medical Officer Breckett is so creatively adept.  He adapted an old Virtual Reality visor to connect with your optical nerves.”  It pointed at its own eyes.  “Not quite the same set up, but close.  Sort of.  Anyway, you can’t move because those bars severed your spinal cord.  And your spine.”  It held up a hand as I once again tried to jerk off the bed and failed to move a single muscle.  “Don’t.  Please.  Your spine is also healing well, but it will take a little time.  Beckett had to regrow your spine from scratch and replace the entire thing.  The nerves are the tricky part he said, so we’ve immobilized you until that healing is complete.  Which it’s not.  Yet.  Anything else?”

My mouth snapped shut.  I licked dry lips.  “What about that part about ‘it’s illegal to transport _live_ humans?’”

It pointed at me.  “See, that’s why I like you, Riley.  You don’t miss a thing!”

“And?”

“And what?”

“ _Live humans._ ”

It sighed and stared at its hands.  “The answer to that is complicated and much larger than you realize.”

I glared.

“Why am I here, Elias?”

It looked up.  “Riley, do you believe in a deity or deities?”

“What does _that_ have to do with anything?”

“That has everything to do with everything.  Bear with me.  Every culture on Earth has some kind of creation legend, right?  The deities vary, but there’s always somebody doing the creating.  Same thing across the galaxy. 

“Each species has a legend about a creator or creators.  That, in itself, is not significant until you factor in Earth.  See, here’s the thing.  Every space fairing species has a non-sentient counterpart… on your planet. For example, Breckett is a Brahg.  Which is genetically identical in nearly every way to the American Bullfrog.  Only the Cyta have no counterpart on Earth. 

“Each of the legends in every species mirrors a legend on your planet.  Every culture is mirrored in one of your many nations.  When you count it all up, one thread seems to run through everything.  There was a someone, or a few someones, that meddled on each of these planets.  They set up an ecosystem that supported intelligence.  They molded it until the species came into its own.  Then they walked away. 

But when it comes to Earth… Earth seems to be the master key.  Every intelligent species is represented there, even though the planet itself is younger than many of the space fairing civilizations.  Every culture is mirrored in one of your many nations.  Earth was built as a microcosm of the galaxy.  All of this was organized by those mysterious agents that disappeared.  Some refer to them as the Founders.  They set everything in motion, controlled every step of the evolution of thousands of planets, and then walked away from it all.  But they left one planet behind as a master key to all their work.  No one knows why.”

“Okay.  What does that have to do with me?”

“Everything.  Not you specifically, your species.  Your planet.  Why did these Founders meddle everywhere else and then leave behind a master key?  Where did they go?  What was their purpose?  The Galactic Consulate’s scientists have poured over the mysteries tucked away on Earth for millennia.  _You_ will be participating in a battery of tests and experiments to better understand your species and its role in all of this.  And maybe unlock some of those keys.

“There is a standing GC Law that states no non-space fairing species may be taken out of its original environment.  Teptet Anthropologists have managed to obtain a special permit for conducting experiments on humans, but only after the human has terminated from natural causes.  After much political wrangling, they finally managed to get a permit for a live human.  You.  There are conditions, though.  You are not to be harmed in any way.  You must be provided for and the remainder of your life must be comfortably appointed and intellectually stimulating.  Oh—and you can never return to Earth.  Not even as a corpse to be buried there.”

My eyes widened—or they would have.  A sheen of sweat broke out across my cheeks and forehead.  My mind spun in everchanging circles.  “Wait.  Let me get this straight:  I’ve been kidnapped for some experiment without being asked if I wanted to go—and I can’t even go home now?  Is this what you’re telling me?”

“I really think your focusing on the micro—”

“Did anybody ever think to _ask_ someone?  ‘Cause there’s plenty of freaks out there that’d be ecstatic over this!”  Sweat trickled into my hairline and down my cheeks.  I hoped this visor let Elias see how hard I was scowling.

It leaned forward, elbow joints on knee joints.  “Yeah, about that.  It was necessary to find a well-adjusted, strong-minded specimen.”

“I’m not a _specimen._ ”  I hissed through gritted teeth.

Elias smirked.  And then it clicked.  My jaw slackened with realization of the species prejudice in play.  My voice threaded weakly between us.  “This Galactic Consulate doesn’t view humans as—what did you call it?  Space Fairing.  Do they?”

“No.”

I swallowed hard and licked my lips.  “Then what are we.”  I felt its gaze bore into me and I cringed back from it.

“Intelligent.”

“Intelligent what, Elias?”

“It’s more important to understand what humans are _not._ ”  The Admiral thing stood and strolled toward its desks.  “Humans are not animals.  But humans are not space-fairing.  And therefore, humans are not members of the Galactic Consulate.  In short, while Earth is under the protection and jurisdiction of the GC, Earth—and more specifically, humans—do not have the rights afforded to _citizens_ of the Galactic Consulate.”  It snapped a small device to its wrist and began weaving lines of light through the air around it.  Several floating screens jumped into existence.

“I don’t have any rights?”

“You have protections.”

“But I don’t have any _rights._ ”

It paused and fixed me with its gaze.  “No, Riley.  You only have protections.”

“Then how am I any more than an animal to you?”  My temper edged into my tone.

Elias resumed its light show.  “Legally?  You’re not.  On my ship, you will be treated with the same respect and dignities as any other guest or member of my crew.”

“Really?  Do you regularly put your guests and crew in cages, Elias?”

Its head snapped to me, the devil burned pale in its eyes.  I bit my lip.  “When they present a danger to themselves— _yes._ ”

I blew my breath through my teeth.  I wanted to shift on the pallet.  I wanted to flip it off.  I wanted to restart the clock and go back to my helicopter.  I wanted to go down with the rest of the flight crew.  Tears pricked at my eyes and slipped down into my hair. 

“How do I turn this thing off, Admiral Elias?”  It paused and looked at me.  “I’m tired and I want to sleep.”  It nodded.  The screen in my mind went blank.  Rage ripped through me.  I grit my teeth hard and tried not to feel helpless.  The damned Admiral thing had control of my body… _but not my mind_. 


	3. Chapter 3

“Riley.  Wake up.”

I groaned.  “…if I never hear that voice again…”

Something warm and smooth brushed over my cheek.  I gasped.  

“Riley.  Open your eyes.”

I grit my teeth and balled my fists.  My fingernails dug into my palms. I froze.  Elias crouched next to me, chuckling. My eyes snapped open and I sat up, staring at my palms.  “How? When?”

“The Admiral suggested that you would fare better if you were sedated for the duration of your healing process.”  

My jaw dropped.  Beside the Admiral stood a tall slimy creature with a broad head and a mouth stretching even wider than the face.  Its enormous eyes bulged and two slits between them served as a nose. The white uniform it wore bore brown stains along the collar that matched its excessively moist skin.  Nictating eyelids slid sideways across those yellow orbs when it blinked. Its body strung out below the fat head like skinny spaghetti.

Elias hooked a finger under my chin and closed my mouth.  I shot it a hard glare and jerked away. It leaned back with a grin.

“You’ll catch flies that way.  Isn’t that what they say on Earth?”  It shook its head. “Not sure how that would work, exactly.”

“It’s an expression.”  I felt numb. My eyes were bugging out of my head.  “I can see.”

“Yes.  You can see, Miss Riley Cho.”  Elias waved a hand at the length of my body.  “You can move.  _ And. _ ..”  It pointed at the hoovering cage behind me.  “You’re free to roam the room. But only  _ this _ room.  The Bane will not allow you to exit.  Not until I give you permission.”

“Miss Riley Cho.”  The new creature extended a webbed hand.  “I am Galactic Consulate Armada Chief Medical Officer Breckett.  I must examine you.”

“You…”  I pointed at the doctor.  “You were there when I… um…”

Elias waved dismissal and stood.  “Yes, yes. Let’s put all that behind us, shall we?  Stand up for the doc, Little Lady.”

I got to my feet.  The white suit rustled when I moved.  I ran my hands over it, realizing for the first time my clothing disparity.  “What happened to my uniform?”

“I needed to remove it.  I cannot operate through it.”  

Breckett gestured for me to move closer.  I looked to Elias. It nodded and steered my shoulder toward the doctor.  The taller creature waved a webbed hand at my jump suit.  

“You must remove this.”  

It waited.  I gaped, shook my head and clutched at my clothing.  It shifted its weight. “Or I can remove it for you.”

My mouth snapped shut, gaping replaced with a downward tilt of my head and a vicious glare.  I glanced back at Elias. It stood with arms folded over its chest, looking down at me. I shook my head again and side stepped away from the two until I bumped into the pallet.

“You must remove your outer garments,” the doctor croaked.  “I must directly see the responses of your musculo-skelature to applied stimuli.”

I blinked and asked Elias, “What?”

The Admiral glanced at the doctor, then knelt in front of me like a parent instructing a child.  I scowled at this. “CMO Breckett is the only medical officer onboard that has any knowledge of human biology.  He needs to see your muscles move and to do that, you gotta take off the suit, Little Lady.  He won’t even touch you.  Promise.  And I’ll be right here the whole time.” It winked at me with a smile.  

I hugged my shoulders.  “You’ll be here—How is  _ that _ supposed to make me feel any better?”  The smile dropped from Elias’s face. I scrambled backwards across the pallet, keeping the two of them in sight.  “I’m not stripping for  _ anybody! _   This just keeps getting creepier and weirder and—”

Elias stood, a thundercloud in its dark blue eyes.  I held myself tighter and curled into a ball. It pointed to the ground in front of the pallet.  I glanced at its hand. Its head tilted down, warning racing through the lines of its body. With my teeth grit tight, I crawled to the edge and stood.  The admiral rubbed the bridge of its nose, eyes squeezed shut. It waved me forward and walked to the wall behind the cage.

“Lemme show ya something.”  It tapped on a pad that materialized on the wall.  The blank cream color melted away to reveal a bright, yellow star.  Several planets sprawled around it and a ring of asteroids snaked in a lazy river marking a delineation between the smaller inner planets and the larger outer ones.  The scene canted at an overhead angle. My jaw dropped as I pressed my hands to the cool glass.  

“Is that…?” I swallowed.

Elias pointed out each of the planets by their English names.  “We returned after your little stunt. I wasn’t sure how well you would heal.”  It turned to me. “The specimen delivered must be in excellent health.”

“So?”  I squinted up at the biomechanical creature.  But my stomach clenched as bits of previous conversations rolled through my mind.  I pressed my forehead to the glass. The star burned steady in the center of everything, tossing shadows at me from where it sat.  The flat plane of the system canted toward me—the ship parked above and angled from the central axis. Tears pricked at my eyes, but I asked the question I already knew the answer to.  “What happens if I’m  _ not  _ healthy?”

Elias said nothing.  I twisted to face it, placing my cheek on the glass.

“You’ll kill me?”

It remained silent, watching me.  My fingers traced invisible lines between the asteroids.  

“And if I don’t disrobe for the doctor, you won’t know for sure that I’m in excellent health…”  I looked at the tall, slimy thing waiting for me and nodded. As I walked to the doctor, I shot glare over my shoulder.  “Knowing this makes me even less comfortable with you here.”

The Admiral shrugged.  “It’s my room, Little Lady.  And my ship.”

 

* * *

 

Three shapes hung in the air, a circle, a triangle, and a square.  I squinted at the pattern. “Ah ee oh.”

Beside me the Admiral slung light through the air, sculpting beautiful arcs and swirls.  I twisted to watch.

“Ahheeoh.”  It’s eyes flicked to me with a quick nod.  “Again.”

I turned back to the symbols.  “Ah ee oh.”

“Again.”

I sighed.  “Ahee oh.”

My gaze met narrowed blue eyes.  It shook its head.

“It’s close enough, isn’t it?”

“This is a simple greeting, Riley.  Like a polite, Hello. You must get it right above all other words.”

Facing forward again, I propped my elbows on the over large desk and glared at the symbols.  “Remind me why I can’t just have a device to translate for me? We have that technology on Earth, so I  _ know _ you have it.”

“Shortcuts fail.”  

I rolled my eyes.

“Again.”

“Ah eeoh.”

“It all rolls together, Riley.  Again.”

“Why is it all vowel sounds?”  I turned in the seat to watch Elias’s light show.  It flung a string at me. The thin line wrapped around my shoulders and curled between my fingers when I lifted my hands.  I smiled.

“Not every species can make consonant sounds, but all can make what you know as grunts and squeals.  Except the species without vocal chords.”

I wrinkled my nose.  Elias flicked its wrist and the curls of light surrounding me shivered out of existence.  

“How do they communicate then?”

“Common Tongue has two components.  The one you are learning now is constructed of vowel sounds.  The other component is entirely consonants minus the vocalization.”

“So, clicks?  The other part of the language is all clicks?”  I tossed my hands in the air. “This keeps getting more confusing!”

The Admiral’s hands paused in the air as it turned to me.  “You’re wasting time. Again.”

I plunked my elbows on the desk and stared at the symbols.  Circle, triangle, square. All stacked in a neat box. “Ahee oh.  Aheeeoh. Ahhhh—I need a break!” My head thunked on the desk between my hands.  I turned to watch Elias sidelong. “We’ve been at this for… I don’t know…  _ hours. _ ”  

“Ih-ih-eh.”

I moaned.  “How long is four ‘eh’ things anyway?”

“Ih-ih-eh,”it corrected me with a sharp look.  “That’s how long you have been sitting there grumbling instead of learning Common Tongue.”

“I’m getting hungry, Elias.”

It froze, blinked, and removed the small circlet device from its wrist.  The Admiral stepped down from its platform between the desks. I sat up in the chair; my feet dangled a foot off the ground.  “What is that you’re doing, anyway?”

Elias grinned at me as it walked past, “ _ That _ , is above your paygrade, Little Lady.”  

Thick metal fingers ruffled my hair.  I shoved the hand away with a hard scowl.  “Don’t touch me!”

 “I don’t have kooties.”  

“I’m serious, Elias!”

It shrugged.  The door whooshed open, but Elias stood just inside, looking at me.  “You coming?”

“What? I—yes!”  I leapt from the chair and dashed for the door.  

It caught my shoulder with one hand.  “Wait.” The Admiral crouched to be on eye level with me.  “Remember, don’t show your teeth, don’t stare, and stay glued to my side at all times.”

“I really hate how you talk to me like a three-year-old.”

“Learn the language and the customs, Riley.  Your freedoms will increase with each milestone you reach.”  It patted me on the shoulder and strolled through the door.  

I massaged my temples.  When I looked up, the biomechanical creature was strolling down the empty corridor.  Without looking back, it made a show of pointing at the ground next to it. I scampered up and settled into a pace next to it.  Three of my strides equaled one of the Admiral’s.  

A series of squeaks preceded several small scampering bodies.  They resembled long tailed hamsters in tiny, brown suits. Their red eyes gleamed as they dodged between my feet.  The Admiral never slackened its stride, but I hopped on one foot trying not to step on the little creatures.

“What the hell!”  I grabbed at anything to steady myself and jumped away when I realized I’d grasped three of Elias’s fingers.  “Shit.” I shook my hand.  

It frowned down on me.  “Ya done?”

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to—to grab you.  I lost my balance.”

It nodded and resumed walking.  “Scrichen asked you to clear the way.  If you’d studied more this cycle, you would have understood.”

I glared at the floor.  “You couldn’t help me out with that one?”

“If I give you the translation every time, what do you learn but dependence on me?  I’m not your babysitter, Miss Riley Cho. I have a fleet to command.”

“Where were they going?”  I twisted to gaze back down the corridor but snapped forward when the Admiral snapped its fingers in front of me.  I gaped, too busy staring at the variety of creatures ahead of me to hear what it replied. Things slithered, crawled, and clomped through the intersecting corridors, in and out of rooms, and passed me in the wide hall.  I felt like I’d walked into an encyclopedia of every mythical creature ever conjured.  

Two frog-like Brahgs croaked to each other as they crossed our path.  A centaur walked into a side room. Three bat critters flew over my head, slipping sideways in playful dodges.  A scorpion walked on two legs clicking to a snake with three tails. Shadows crept over the one wall, their depths appeared to suck into a dimensional void which shifted as they moved.  Looking directly at them hurt my head. My attention swung from creature to creature like a pendulum.

We turned into a cavernous hall.  Tables lined sections of the floor and two walls.  Rows of perches graced a far corner where a faint shimmer caught my eye.  Clusters of aliens mingled in a constant ebb and flow. Some carried trays or cups and searched for space.  The thrum of conversation warmed my ears, but the foreign sound of it wrapped me in isolation. Elias’s language lessons jumped in levels of priority within my mind.

A tall Brahg approached and I slipped behind the Admiral to allow passage.  Elias chattered at it until it croaked back. The Admiral pulled me forward.  I glanced up at it and then stared at the Brahg. It greeted me, and my mouth went dry.  My lips parted. I glanced back at Elias again. It gestured for me to proceed, then folded its arms over its chest.  The Brahg bent forward, hovering just above my eyelevel.  

“Um… Ah.  Ee. Oh.” I heard Elias slap a hand over its face.  I cleared my throat. The Brahg blinked its enormous yellow eyes.  The cat-like pupils twirled within the irises. I stumbled back a step and swallowed hard.  The Admiral tapped my back between my shoulder blades. I tried again. “Ah-ee-oh.”

“Aheeoh,” the Brahg replied, thumping a webbed fist against its chest.  “Ehrr _ ah. _ ”

I twisted to look up at Elias.  “I don’t know that one.”

“Her name.  Ehrr _ ah  _ is her name.”

“Her?”  My eyes widened.  I searched around the room, realizing I’d labeled every creature in there an “it” in my mind.  My gaze fell on the waiting Brahg. She croaked a handful of unfamiliar syllables. I shrugged at the Admiral.

“She says it is exciting to meet a species of the Founders'Key—meaning earth.  She honors you with a salute. Return the favor, Miss Riley Cho.”  

I nodded and raised my fist.  But then I stopped. My hand dropped to my side.  I snapped my feet together and popped a crisp American Military salute.  “Specialist Riley Cho!”

The Brahg straightened, looking over my head to the Admiral.  I held my hand out for a shake, but Elias pushed it down. “Riley, don’t offer your hand.  Brahg don’t touch other people unless they’re mating them.”

“Oh god!”  I yelped and jumped back.  “No! God! Oh. I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean that. How do I say I that’s not what I meant?”

The Admiral held up a hand to halt my gushing and warbled a string of vowels.  Ehrr _ ah _ croaked several short bursts, waved both webbed hands in the air and left, still croaking.

“She’s laughing at me?”

“Ayup.”

I faced Elias.  “And you?”

“Only in spirit.”  It winked at me and grinned.  

My gaze followed the rollicking Brahg.  I pressed my lips into a thin line and sighed.  “Admiral Elias?” Its attention felt heavy on my shoulders, weighted by my unsurety on how to proceed.  “The Brahg have binary gender?”

“Yes.”  It watched me, waiting.

I closed my eyes and drew in a breath.  “And Cyta?”

“Cyta are binary.  Just like humans and the Brahg.”

“You’re gonna make me ask.”

“Yup.”

I rubbed at my temples.  The aliens in the room mingled, ate, drank, entered, and left.  I smirked at up at the Admiral. “How do I get a tray?”

It barked a laugh and pointed at a line on the other side of the room.

 

* * *

 

I shivered at the cool touch running over my back.  My legs dangled off the exam table. The conversation about Brahg mating practices kept surfacing in my mind as the doctor’s webbed hand brushed along my side.  A knock at the door snapped my attention to it.  

The Brahg croaked.  “He is not allowed in here if I say he cannot come in.  Relax, human.”  

I glanced at the doctor and settled back into a regular breathing pattern, but I glared at the door for good measure.

“The Admiral will not harm you.  I do not understand why you are upset by his presence.”

I rolled my eyes, then bit my lip.  “You know, on Earth, what a human tells their physician stays in confidence.  Is it the same here?”

The Brahg stilled behind me.  “Are you planning to hurt yourself again?”

I shook my head.  “No. I was trying to get out of the cage, that’s all.  I didn’t know the bars would close on me.” I peered over shoulder at the doctor.  “Well?”

“I could tell you that this is same, but you would not know if I lie.”

“Good point.”  I nodded and changed tactics.  “Female anatomy is considered very private among humans.  I’m not comfortable  _ sharing _ with just anyone.  The Admiral takes far too many liberties with my privacy.”

He grunted.  

“And I was kinda wondering if I could ask you questions about where I’m going and what I can expect.”

“More physical exams.”  He set aside one tool and picked up another.  “And more sharing.”

“Are you and the Admiral mental twins?”

The Brahg blinked, its large pupils rotated within the irises.  I shook my head.

“Nevermind.  Who will be doing these experiments?  Are they more Brahg like you or Cyta or… who are they?”

“You will be transferred to the waiting Teptet Research Group.  You will not find any Teptet onboard the Bane. Cyta and Teptet have had territorial disputes since long before remembrance.”

“Territorial disputes?  You mean they’re at war with each other?”

“Wars sometimes.  Yes.”

I twisted up onto my knees, knocking the silvery device from the doctor’s hand.  “The Admiral is turning me over to his  _ enemies _ ?!”

Breckett froze.  

My heart jumped from stark fear to bleak hope and waffled between the two.  My palms were sweating. “What does this mean? I thought Elias  _ liked _ humans! Why—why would he—How much danger am I—”

His large eyes grew in my vision.  I gaped. Those yellow irises expanded as if to consume me.  My breath came quick. “What… what are you doing?” I turned my head trying to dislodge my gaze.  My voice fled leaving me with only whispers. “Breckett? I… I can’t feel my arms and legs…” Panic flooded my mind and scrambled my thoughts.  Flee, runaway, but I _couldn’t move_!  The yellow washed over me leaving behind a hungry blackness. I opened my mouth to scream, but my vocal chords seized in my thick throat.  Dizziness hit me like a freight train. I fell to the floor. Everything went dark.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how often I should post an update. I've written roughly half of the story already, but I tend to get distracted and put off writing for weeks at a time. However, there is quite a bit of buffer built up... (42k+ words and counting) 
> 
> Please give kudos, make comments, let me know you read it and what you think. This is a first draft, and I'd love to know you're thoughts. ;-)

Lightening bolts arced through my brain, followed by thunderous pain. I hissed at the sting of overhead lights flickering in my eyes and buried my face in the warm metals against my cheek. The gentle sway of my body cradled in a warm cocoon of smooth metals lulled my headache. Heavy metal clanked against metal flooring and punctuated the easy rhythm. I curled an arm over my face to further hide from the scathing lights.

  
“You awake now?”

  
I hissed a curse and flailed in the arms of my captor. “Fucking put me down, Elias!” My stomach rolled as I dropped and landed in a heap at the Admiral’s feet. He stood above me, arms akimbo. I scrambled to my unsteady feet, my hands cradled my head. I glared at him through my fingers. “Why were you carrying me?”

  
“I don’t have much experience with living humans, but I wager it’s a safe bet none of them can walk while unconscious.”

  
“Actually, some of us can.”

  
His brow ridge arched.

  
“Not me. But there are some.”

  
“Not you,” he nodded. “So you had to be carried.”

  
I bit back the _why did it have to be YOU_ carrying me, and leaned against the corridor wall. He looked ahead; hands still on hips. The corridor light glinted off his plated armor as he towered there. I edged away incrementally until his gaze flicked back to me, face tight and stern, cementing me to the floor. I licked my lips and dropped my gaze. Drew a deep breath.

  
“What happened to me? One minute I’m talking to the CMO then his eyes just got… really big… and… I’m not sure.”

  
“Brahg have a natural ability to hypnotize their prey.”

  
I straightened against the wall, my mouth dropped open, eyes wide. Elias shook his head with a smirk.

  
“No, he wasn’t hunting you. He was trying to calm you. He said you got yourself wound up pretty tight and attacked him.”

  
My fists balled. “What? I did no such thing! I turned around and accidentally knocked something out of his hand, but I wasn’t _attacking anyone_!” Elias held up a hand. I snapped my mouth shut and scowled.

  
“He perceived it as a feeble attempt at an attack. Of course, something as tiny as you could never overpower a Brahg, but he believes you didn’t know that.”

  
My scowl morphed into an affronted squint.

  
“Can you walk back to my quarters or do I need to carry you the rest of the way?”

  
“I’m fine.” I stumbled ahead of the Admiral. He huffed.  “I’ll walk,” I waved him off. “I’m okay.”

  
Along the way, I stumbled a few times and shoved him back each time he caught me. Elias laughed it off, calling me charmingly stubborn. When we reached the room, he leaned over me and keyed in a sequence to open the door. Then he winked at me and explained it doesn’t work on the other side of the door.

I hid my frown by rushing into the room ahead of him and tossing myself onto the sleeping pallet. He excused himself to retrieve a tray of food and something for me to drink. As the door whooshed open I called to him. He half turned, peering at me over shoulder.

  
“Cyta are male and female. You’re male.”

  
He smirked. “I would have told you if you’d asked. You don’t gotta make things so hard on yourself, Little Lady. Nobody here is out to get ya. We’re all here to help.”

  
“If that’s true, then take me back to Earth.”

  
“You know I can’t do that.”

  
I turned away, not brave enough to call him a liar to his face. He stood nearly eight feet tall in his entirely mechanized body; a crushing 600 pounds of brute force and lightning speed. Best not to find his tempers threshold . Tears pooled in the corners of my eyes. The door stayed open. I refused to look. I waited till it closed behind him before I wiped at my eyes.

  
Rolling to my feet, I wandered to the wall and tapped in the sequence to turn it clear. Three small triangles in the corner allowed for speech recognition in English.

  
“Bane.” The console chimed a reply. “Please highlight Earth’s Star.” A square raced across my field of view, blinked over a small area several feet to my left, and enlarged four times, bringing it closer to me with each enlargement. My fingers traced over the tiny dots in rotation around a bright smudge. My forehead thumped against the glass. I squeezed my eyes closed against tears staining my cheeks. The hiss of the door made me jump. I sniffled and wiped my eyes again.

  
“Bane, close that,” Elias said. The window paled into standard ship’s cream. I turned to face him. He frowned at me. “Here’s your food. Stop looking back, Riley.” I snatched the tray off the desk and returned to the pallet. He pulled up two screens and tapped at them. “Our mission will be delayed.”

  
“I didn’t know _we_ were on a mission.” I drawled the “we” with extra sarcasm.

  
“Ha.” He smirked. “We are detouring to another solar system.” Beautiful dragons with jewel colored scales filled the screen. I watched the images scroll. Elias grabbed one and tossed it to the middle of the room. It rotated, suspended in the air and moving in a graceful slow motion.

  
“That’s beautiful,” I gasped. “What is it?”

  
The Admiral’s gaze switched from me to the dragon. It stood on short hind legs and whipped its tail from side to side. Three fingers and a thumb sprouted from the second elbow of each wing. A long sinous neck arched, showing the razored ridges running along the length. The face turned and zeroed in on me. I froze. Two ruby red eyes watched me from the sides of its face the way a horse keeps a predator in it’s sight. But a singular moss green eye stared unblinking from the center of its forehead. The pupil dilatated open.

  
“This is an Abarra.” Elias tossed one hand at the magnificent creature. “We will be meeting with an Envoy for a First Contact meeting.”

  
I blinked and shook my head to free myself from the staring contest with a hologram. “Why are you telling me any of this? I’m sure there are thousands of things that happen on this ship that I will never know about.”

  
The Admiral nodded. “You need to know because I will be changing bodies.”

  
“Wha—you can _do_ that?”

  
He grinned wide. “Of course, I can.” With a wink, he turned to the far wall and waved a hand. The panels slid back and revealed several white bodies, heads hanging down, faces lifeless. A short biped with sweeping wings on its back and backwards jointed knees, a giant praying mantis, a tall crocodile on two legs with two thick arms and a long snout, more shapes and strangeness than my mind could grasp. At the end of the row was a white dragon with red eyes and opaque chest panels.

  
“I can’t have your little heart seizing up at the sight of me next cycle.”

  
I turned back to Elias, my mouth agape. He chuckled and walked away from the wall of dormant bodies. All but the last panel slid closed. A small light illuminated the dragon inside.

  
“I don’t understand. You’re going to wear a new body? Why?”

  
He paused and stared at me, then clipped a small device to his wrist. “It makes a First Contact meeting much easier if I wear a form that the potential inductees will find familiar. More friendly that way, Little Lady.” He looked up. “You didn’t think _this_ was my only body, did you?”

  
“Actually, _yes_.”

  
“Nope,” he began slinging light between his screens.

  
“Will I get a chance to meet them? The Abarra?”

  
“Course, you will.” He winked. “I have plans for you. You’ve been cooped up in here with me for longer than is healthy. I could sure use a break from babysitting. I’ve arranged a little welcoming celebration the day after their arrival. You’ll be moved to guest quarters temporarily. Unless, you _want_ to stay with me.”

  
I shook my head harder than I should have. He chuckled.

  
“That’s probably in your best interest. I’ll be taking liberties with some of the guests and crew. I doubt you’d want in on the experience—although you’re welcome if you change your mind. In the meantime, I can’t leave you completely unattended. One of the minor Abarra emissaries has agreed to take you as his charge for the duration of their stay.”

  
Elias stopped flinging light and fixed me with a hard stare. “There are some rules, Little Lady. If you want to stay out of that cage, you’ll listen up. The Abarra Envoy will not be taking you home with them. They aren’t here to rescue you. You _are going_ to the Teptet Research facility and there is no getting out of that. Nobody is going to take you back to Earth. I don’t want you to think you can persuade someone to free you from your obligations. Because I’d have to terminate anyone who tries. That wouldn’t make for a good First Contact meeting, now would it?”

  
My heart leapt into my throat. Ice chilled my fingers and toes. Out from under the thumb of my captor, but anyone helping me to escape faced death by GC Armada. I nodded in stiff jerks. The Admiral returned to slinging lines of light about the room. I set the half-finished tray aside and curled up on the sleeping pallet. Sleep would not find me tonight—I planned to be buried in thought.

* * *

  
I awoke with a rectangle of glass under my hand. I stared at it, turning it over and fingering the beveled edges. It felt weighty in my grip. Elias’s humanoid body hung, still and cold, in place of the dragon. I walked to the clear panel. His eyes stared lightless and dead at the floor. The blue piping running over each limb refused to glow. I pressed my fingers to the panel over the dormant face and shivered.

  
“That’s about the creepiest shit.” My breath frosted over the glass and wisped away just as quick. My hand dropped away. In the reflection a sinewy, white lizard peered over my shoulder. Red eyes watched me, but the center eye glowed a soft blue. I sighed and turned.

  
“Elias.”

  
His head dipped.

  
“What?”

  
The dragon waddled forward. His long neck bent low to nudge the rectangle clasped in my left hand.

  
“What?” I asked again. The Admiral bounced my hand up with the bridge of his snout. His wings flicked outward, then settled against his sides as his three-fingered hands reached for mine. I flinched back. He froze. His head swiveled to stare at me with one red eye embedded in the side of his face.

  
“Why don’t you just talk to me? Normally you don’t ever shut-up, now—”

  
One of his hands gripped my wrist tight. Breath hissed through my teeth. He jerked me forward a step and held the glass up to his chest. Lights flashed across the opaque chest panels. I pulled against his grip, but he tightened the hold.

  
“You’re hurting me!”

  
His fingers slid across the glass in my hand and the lights on his chest repeated.

  
“Listen to me, girl.”

  
I stared, open mouthed, at the glass. Elias’s voice had come from there. The dragon dipped his head and tapped his chest panels with a free hand.

  
“I-I’m listening.”

  
“I don’t have audial communication in this body. You haven’t mastered the other half of Common Tongue yet and it wouldn’t matter since the Abarra haven’t learned it either. This glass,” he gave my captive wrist a shake, “will translate between you and the Abarra. They don’t understand acoustic languages. Theirs is based entirely on a bioluminescent communication system.”

  
“Oh. Can you let go now?”

  
The dragon dipped his head and dropped my hand. I rubbed at my reddened wrist.

  
“Sorry about that. I had to get your attention. Abarra are aggressive and single minded. This behavior is in the programming I’ve written for myself for the encounter.”

  
“Great.” I glared at the floor. “That’s fantastic.”  
Elias lifted his head and smiled, flashing rows and rows of three-inch needled teeth. I yelped, one arm swung over my face as I stumbled away. “Gods, Elias! That’s one helluva maw!”

  
He turned to the glass panel in the wall and preened.

  
“Ohmigod.” I shook my head and walked back to the pallet.

  
“So. What’s on the agenda for the day.”

  
Lights flashed from his chest. He lowered his head. A menacing growl emitted. My eyes widened. One three-fingered hand gestured at the glass I held. I mouthed an, “Oops,” and lifted the device.

  
“I’m taking you to your new quarters. Then down to the Galley for a tray of good eats. While we’re there I’ll introduce you to your new babysitter.”

  
“You think you could pick another word for that?”

  
“Jailor doesn’t have the same friendly ring to it.”

  
I rolled my eyes as soon as his back was turned and flipped him off with my free hand. His tail swished behind him nearly taking my feet out from under me.

  
“Watch your step.” He peered back at me. “And your fingers.”

* * *

  
I followed the Admiral through the thick crowd in the Galley and took the tray he handed to me. Three jewel colored dragons waited at a table designed for the winged aliens—seats with no backs. Elias ushered me to them. They rose in succession and dipped their heads to my captor. I tried not to stare at their striking coloring, blue sapphire, ruby red, and yellow taumarine. I forced my gaze to my tray and took quick peeks at the beautiful creatures. Bony ridges fanned back from their long, snouted faces. Their eyes matched their coloring except for the third one sitting at the top of their foreheads. Silky scales glistened as they moved, and their thick boned fingers were tipped with blunted claws. Each one snaked its head in different directions as they studied me.

  
Ruby Red stepped forward and its chest glowed soft colors that shifted in a graceful dance across the spectrum. My gaze flicked up to its face and back to its chest. Elias tapped the glass in my hand. I whispered, “Oh yeah,” and raised it.

  
“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch what you said.” The glass flashed bright colors. My eyes widened, and I smiled. The dragons each flared out wings, crests behind their heads, and skin flaps along their necks. They hissed and bared long, needled teeth. Elias slapped a hand over my mouth as I back peddled from the display.

  
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I forgot!” My words garbled through his fingers, but the device in my hand flashed a translation anyway. I hoped it made sense. The Admiral’s chest lit up in accompaniment. I swung the glass to him. “What did you say? What did you tell them?”

  
He released my face and patted me on the head. His face dipped to mine, one red eye blinking inches from me.

  
“What did you say?”

  
He shook his head and turned back to the real dragons. I shifted the tray of food in my grip. Elias took the glass, tapped on it, and handed it back. Thin green lines boxed around each of the dragons. I turned it toward the Admiral and it did the same. My lips pursed. I shot him an inquiring look, but he waved my attention to the blue dragon. It stepped forward and spoke.

  
“You are Bi-pedal Creature. I am pleased to meet you. I am Abarra Third Emissary and Protector of the South Mountain Realm.” It dipped its head, but the other two gave a quick hiss. The blue dragon flared and snaked its head to shoot them a glare before it straightened. “Forgive me for being bold. My fellows do not believe your species will understand the significance of the greeting I have bestowed upon you.”

  
I glanced at Elias. He stood still, watching the Third Emissary. His body tensed. “What did it do?” I whispered and jumped when the glass translated. Elias glared at me. I squeezed my eyes shut then squinted into the white face. He chuffed. The other three chuffed. I looked around for a hole to crawl into.

  
The Third Emissary waved me forward. I took one step, then another, and stopped well out of reach and still close to Elias. It prowled around me, sniffing at my uniform and the food tray held awkwardly in one hand. Its tail curled on the floor against my feet. It stopped directly in front of me and stretched to full height. I squared my shoulders and stiffened my spine to cover the plumes of fear seeping off me. It stared down at me.

  
“Admiral?” My tongue felt thick. “What now?”

  
The glass in my hand lit with translation. The three dragons chuffed again. Words scrolled across the bottom, “The Third Emissary is awaiting your inspection of him.”

  
I glanced back at Elias. He nodded at the translating device and more words trailed across it. “Walk around him. Look him over. It’s polite to inspect someone you’ve just met. He shows you far more honor than you deserve.”

  
“Him,” I muttered, grateful the glass hadn’t picked up my whispering this time. I stepped over the blue tail and trekked around the dragon, making a point of looking at each part of him. His head swiveled to follow my progress. I jumped when his wings spread in a sudden display.

My jaw dropped as the feather-like scales shivered open and gleamed in the Galley’s overhead lights. He gave his wings a quick shiver and settled them against his back. A soft purr rumbled from his chest. I snapped my mouth shut. Along the dragon’s back lay thin stripes of a dark green—almost black. The stripes dotted and swirled in places as they curled down his frame. When I came around his side and turned to face him I whispered a, “Wow” and shook my head when the translator flashed colors. The dragon in front of me preened.

  
This sequence repeated with the other two—minus my mutterings—and the Third Emissary ushered me to a seat across from him. He instructed me to eat and tell him about myself.

  
“Well, for starters, _my_ culture says that it’s rude to eat in front of someone who does not also have food.”

  
He waved a dismissive hand. “I have already dined.”

  
“Okay. That just makes this awkward.” I shoved the tray aside.

  
He pushed it back in front of me. “Do not starve yourself on my behalf. I am interested in you, but you must nourish.”

  
I stared at him.

  
“Besides. I am a little curious how you can devour this tray of food with such a tiny mouth.” He chuffed. I scowled at the tray. “Nono! I do not mean to offend! Eat, please.”

  
As I nibbled at a piece of bread—at least it had the consistency of bread—I described landmarks I remembered from my military travels. He peppered me with questions and often surpassed the translator’s abilities. But he took this in stride and chuffed his amusement at the device's limitations. I found his company enjoyable. We seemed to share a dry sense of humor and his optimistic view of life charmed me. 


	5. Chapter 5

The blue Abarra’s tail swished as he waddled through the doorway to a large suite. I watched the short legs and wondered how fast he ran or if it even mattered with winged creatures. Despite being as tall as Elias’s humanoid body, his stubby-legged pace matched my own easy gait. He dropped to hands and feet in the center of the floor and his tail rippled up into the air. He snuffled at the floor reminding me of a hound searching for scent. I gaped. He covered every inch of the suite in this manner. I stood rooted to the spot and tried to dismiss images of the Abarra’s needle-toothed maw from my mind.

  
When he crawled back into the main room he approached and snuffled the length of me. I threw up my arms and turned away from the warm breath whooshed into my face. When I looked back, his snout hoovered inches from my own nose. I lifted one hand and placed it between two large nostrils. The scales were smooth and soft under my fingers. I took a step backwards and the long neck stretched to maintain proximity. Blue eyes blinked. They held no malice. I pressed against his snout and his head lowered with my guidance.

  
“Is this part of your greeting process?”

  
His head bumped against my palm then he stepped closer until his neck ran under my hand like a dog or cat from earth seeking affection. When my hand reached the base of his neck, he shifted away and turned toward the sleeping pallet in the center of the room.

  
“I do not want you to be afraid of me. I am much larger than you, but I will not hurt you.”

  
I smirked. “I hear that a lot around here.”

  
He peered back at me. “And you find this to be false?”  
I shrugged. “I find the motives behind it to be highly suspect.”

  
He dipped his head.

  
“You may have the sleeping pallet if you prefer. Abarra do not nest this high above the walking surface.” He swept one hand at the pallet.

  
“You sleep on the floor?”

  
He turned and studied my face then dipped his head again. “Do you require more rest this cycle? I can retire to the reading room.” He shifted so that one large blue eye watched me. “Would you prefer that I nest in the reading room?”

  
I bit my lip. “Um… you’re offering to sleep in the other room? You would give me that much privacy?”

  
“This is important to you, is it not?”

  
I nodded and looked away. My eyes stung. It amazed me how such a small curtesy could bring me to tears. I nodded again. “The Admiral never lets me out of his sight. I… thank you.” I walked to the pallet and glanced into the adjoining room. The Third Emissary let out a string of guttural clicks behind me. He stepped close and nuzzled my hand to lift my arm over his neck. His head snuggled against my chest.

  
“I will never treat you like an animal.”

  
I hugged his head tight. Despite my reservations, I believed him.

* * *

 

We spent the day lounging on the floor discussing my experiences. He quizzed me about every detail of Earth. He gave me his name, a series of blue colors which the translator could not find English words for, and I settled on a nick name: Blue. Likewise, my name did not translate. I told him the name means courage. He trilled and set my translator to recognize a feminine synonym in Abarra as, “Riley.”

  
Later in the evening he began to dress for Elias’s Welcome Celebration. He huffed quite a bit about my lack of a wardrobe and insisted this should be remedied. I watched him oil his scales to a beautiful sheen and don thin strings of golden cloth that fluttered when he moved. The strips of sheer fabric nestled around his neck and over his belly and down his back between the wings. Then he escorted me to the party.

  
The Abarra entered as a trio with grand announcements in several languages—none of them English. I stood to one side of the show waiting for Blue to finish with the ceremonials. The Admiral caught my eye from the stage and winked. I cursed under my breath. A few crew members nearby shot me puzzled looks and one ran my words through a translator then scowled at me.

  
When I looked up at the stage, Blue dipped his head in my direction. Elias’s gaze shifted from me to the Third Emissary. He turned so the light panels on his chest faced away from the audience. All three Abarra flicked their wings and neck flares at whatever he said, Blue most of all. Elias turned to the audience in a graceful, sweeping gesture and announced time for “good eats” and refreshments. I fought my way through the surging crowd to Blue.

  
The three Abarra settled at a table while the Admiral pranced around his stage priming the crowd for the party. His showmanship impressed me even though what passed for “music” grated and screeched on my nerves. I caught a handful of what he said in Common Tongue but lost it when he switched into other languages. Sections of the crowd cheered with each new language spoken. The Abarra watched, enraptured by the display.

  
I sighed and excused myself to get some drinks. The Admiral cannonballed off the stage. I slapped a palm over my face.

  
“I've been kidnapped by the galaxy's biggest teenager.” I muttered under the explosion of cheers. “I now live in a dimension based on the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy.” I glanced at Blue. He and the other two Emissaries stood, tails and necks winding in the air in time to the flashing lights from the stage. “Gonna need something strong, tonight.”

  
A long narrow table winding through the room to either side of the stage served as the bar. Various shaped and sized bottles nestled amidst drinking glasses, flutes, and bowls. My gaze flittered between them. When the shadow of an Abarra fell over me, I sighed. The red glow of his eyes gave him away.

  
“Should have known this would be your next stop.” I spoke in English, refusing to turn and face him. “Do you always surf the crowd at parties or was this a special occasion?”

  
The Cyta chuffed and reached for a long blue tube. I watched him fill two flutes.

  
“Is that safe? For me, I mean?” I shook my head. “I don’t know if I can drink any of this.”

  
He set the tube in front of me. I met his gaze. Solemn green eyes studied me. My blood ran cold. The Cyta pushed three flutes toward me.

  
“You’re not the Admiral,” I breathed, backing up a step.  
He chuffed and pointed to the device in my hand. I lifted it and sighted him into the translator as a cascade of cold colors flooded his chest.

  
“I am not the Admiral. I am Captain Ohsen of the Cyta Defense Force Conscripted to the Galactic Consulate Armada under Admiral Elias’s command. I am pleased to meet you Miss Riley Cho. I hope your stay has been pleasant.”

  
I blinked. “Oh.” I blinked again and looked at the tube of liquid on the table. “I thought you were the Admiral. Sorry.”

  
His tail swished and his head dipped, but he said nothing. I grabbed the tube and filled two flutes. My hand trembled as I held it over the final flute.

  
“You’re sure this won’t hurt me?”

  
“In small quantities, no.”

  
I glanced around the room. Aliens wriggled, growled, floated, and stood stock still in every square inch. Shadows crawled down the walls, their depths dizzying to look at. The three Abarra snapped their teeth at each other, necks writhing like snakes. My gaze landed on the Cyta before me wearing the body of a dragon. A pang of loneliness crept down my spine. I filled the glass to the brim and tossed it back. Captain Ohsen half-lunged for my flute. I pulled my hand out of his reach. The spicy liquid tasted of peppermint. It chilled and flooded me with warmth at the same time. The familiar charge of alcohol relaxed my anxieties about the drink, but I coughed at the strong taste and set the flute on the table.

  
“So. What’s your story?”

  
The Cyta’s eyes followed the glass then flicked up to mine. “That was more than you should have taken.”  
“I’ll be fine. I can hold my liquor.” I waved him off as he lowered his head. I filled the flute again and lifted it to my lips. “The Admiral kicked me out, to answer your earlier question. I think that’s a good thing, but the jury’s still out.”

  
The Captain’s head cocked to one side. He turned away and busied himself mixing another drink. “This is probably for the best for you. The Admiral is known for his… leisure time.”

  
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” I sipped from my flute. Ohsen glanced at me sidelong, then he snatched the tube of liquid off the table. I scowled at him over my drink. “Am I on a two drink limit, now?”

  
“If it were up to me, you would be on a _no_ drink limit. You would not even be out of your cage.”

  
I set my glass on the table so hard the liquid sloshed. My voice was low and hard edged. “And why is that?”  
The Cyta Captain leveled a stern gaze on the table, but not me. His hands pressed flat next to the bottles of alien liquor. “You are mingling amongst species that have no idea how to interact with you—what they can say and what they should not reveal. Yours is not a space fairing kind. You should not be here where you could learn things that would unnaturally advance your planet’s sciences. That knowledge must be tempered with the experience that comes when discoveries are _earned_ , not stolen, or spirited away by an escapee.”

  
I grabbed my flute off the table. “ _Experience_ has taught me to recognize prejudice in its many forms of bias. You, Captain Ohsen, are a short-sighted species-phobic asshole. I hope you choke on your drink and catch herpes from the Admiral tonight.”

  
He stiffened, his hands curled into fists, but his head still hung low. “You misunderstand me. Bringing such advanced knowledge back to your world would only be to its detriment. I’ve witnessed this first hand with far too many civilizations that destroyed themselves in the end.” He peered sidelong at me. “It would be a shame to lose the Founders’ Key in such a manner. I seek only to protect a Galactic treasure.”

  
I sipped at my drink. “You're still a dick.”

* * *

 

I grabbed the tube of liquor and the other two flutes, spun on my heels and stormed off. Admiral Elias nodded as he approached. I glared at him out of spite and maybe the alcohol too. He jerked to a halt, his wings flicked twice, and his eyes widened then narrowed. I gulped down the last of my drink and stumbled around him, aware of his gaze tracking with me.

  
Blue stood from the Abarras' table and rushed to help me with the drinks. He sniffed at my hair and stepped back. I refused to let go of my flute and he tugged a few times before giving up.

  
“You smell… aggitated.”

  
Blue turned to the table and set out the glasses. I blinked. Glanced over my jumpsuit. Shook off the confusion. “You can smell that?”

  
His head craned around to look at me with one eye. “Of course.”

  
I shook my head. The room canted, but righted itself immediately. I blinked a few more times and gripped the edge of the table. My empty flute taunted me, so I reached around Blue and filled it again, but my aim was off and some spilled on the table. Blue stared at me. The other Abarra stared at me. I sipped at my drink.

  
“What?”

  
Blue ushered me to a seat with a back to it. “Here. This will be more comfortable for you. You do not have…” he waved a hand at my back, “…wings.”  
I leaned my heavy head against my hand, elbow propped on the table, and nodded.

  
“What did the Captain say,” the red Abarra spoke, “that upset you so much?”

  
I looked up through my heavy lashes. “Hm? Oh, something about locking people in cages and how much I should drink.” I waved my flute. The liquor sloshed over the edges. My gaze riveted to the glittering cascade. I set the glass down with a thump. All three Abarra jumped, their skin flaps flared. I giggled as my head sank to the table and my eyes fluttered closed.

  
“Do you think the bipedal creature is intoxicated?”

  
Movement shuffled near to me.

  
“Blue?” I yawned.

  
“Yes?”

  
“I think dragons are pretty.” The shuffling sounds grew closer and smooth hands brushed over my shoulders. I snuggled into the caress as sleep swallowed me up.

* * *

 

Warm. Wrapped in a loose blanket. It draped over my body, silk on bare skin. Tickled my nose. I smiled. My sluggish mind crawled out of a deep hole, passing into this cocoon. Spears of pain arced across the plain of my forehead. I winced, and the motion caused more bolts of pain. My head throbbed with a hangover. I moaned and tugged the blanket tighter around me. It rustled back into its previous position.

  
I froze. Memories tumbled over themselves, tripping into my conscious stream of thought. Last night. Elias threw a party. I drank a spicy alcohol. Three glasses of it. Now I’m laying under a blanket. Naked. _Oh, god_! I cringed. _I’m naked! Again_!

  
My dry lips parted, my voice a tiny whisper, “Elias?” I didn’t want to know, but I needed to know. “What have you done?”

  
The blanket shifted again and light smacked my face. I whimpered and tried to bury myself back under the soft cover, but it yanked away completely. My hands pressed over my eyes. Another hand smoothed over mine. Soft and warm, and not made of metal. I gasped and sprang from the bed, one hand trying to cover all my nakedness, the other trying to shade my eyes.

  
Blue stared up at me from a nest of sheets on the floor. I paced, muttering, “Ohgodohgodhogod,” and forgot my lack of clothing.

  
“What happened?” I rounded on the sleepy Abarra. His head jerked back, neck coiling like a snake. “What did we—” My hands clapped together and flipped over then back. “ _Did we_?”

  
Blue stared at me for a beat, then searched in the nest. He pulled the glass translator from beneath a fold.

  
“Tell me again.” He said. “I don’t understand.”  
I blinked, holding the device straight out in front of me. I shifted from one foot to the other. It didn’t feel like I’d done anything with him. I shook my head and slapped a palm over my face.

  
“Of course not. Probably not even compatible like that.”

  
Blue leapt to his feet, wings half spread, eyes wide. “What! What did you say?” He held out both hands and backed up a step. “Do you think that—no! No, I would _never_! You were intoxicated. You crawled into my nest. When I rose to leave you begged me to keep you company. You said you were cold and alone and scared. I would not have stayed if I’d known you would think I had been unscrupulous with your vulnerability. I swear it by the Founders!”

  
Heat from a hard blush pinked my skin. Blue's head cocked to the side. His fingers flicked at my flesh. “I do not understand the purpose of your color change. It does not blend in with your background, nor does it present as threatening. But it is accompanied by an increase in outer surface temperature. What are you doing? Is this defensive or offensive?”

  
My face fell into my hands. “Neither. I’m embarrassed. This is human embarrassment at its finest.” I turned away.

  
“No no,” he cooed. “Don’t do that. Do not turn away from what unsettles you.” Scaled hands smoothed over my shoulders. “Do not hide from me. I will not hurt you. It was a misunderstanding. Nothing more. We are learning each other and we have much to learn.” His arms wrapped over mine and pulled me into a backwards embrace.

  
Half of me wanted to push him away, but all of me needed to be held, safe, and reassured. I pressed into him.

  
“Okay,” he purred. “It is okay.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story is coming to the end of the first act, now. I hope you've enjoyed it thus far, because everything is about to change up dramatically. But Riley meets Tchai in act two and some twisted secrets are revealed about what's actually going on. Also, an important character will die. Stuff gets really interesting. ;-)

Blue’s pupils dilated into thin slits watching the burgundy liquid slosh into my glass. I placed the decanter on the table and set my drink next to a tray of food. 

  
“It’s getting stuffy in here. I’d like to get out for a change.”

  
The Abarra stared hard at my glass. “Commander Elias is still very disappointed in your behavior.”  
I snorted and lifted my juice for a sip. “If pissing him off keeps him away from me, then let me out to do more damage!”

  
Blue shook his head, two eyes squeezed shut. I fingered the translating device between us as he rose and began pacing the floor of our shared suite. “You do not like it here.” With his face to the wall, my answer would go unseen. I waited, but he remained there, contemplating the structure. “You do not want what awaits you at the end of your journey.” He peered back at me, long neck craned in an elegant curve. I shook my head. He dipped his. “I may know of a way out.” 

  
The glass slipped from my hands and splashed across the table, food, and my lap, but my wide eyes were glued to the alien in front of me facing a wall. I rose on slow, shaky legs. “A way out. A way to get _me_ out. Is that what you’re saying? Are you offering me an escape?” I leaned on my hands, fingers spread in the juice puddle.

  
The Third Emissary of the Abarra straightened to his full height, wings flicked out. “I can offer you asylum with my people. From what you’ve told me over these last several cycles, your species sit on a great deal of wealth and knowledge waiting to be shared. It would be a waste to ignore Earth’s potential simply because the residents are on the cusp of interstellar travel.”

  
I gaped. “Are—are you offering to take me _home_? To _Earth_?”

  
“We would need a liaison, of course. Someone who has a grasp on both cultures to avoid any grievous misunderstandings.”

  
My heart beat fast and hard at the thought of escape. “How would you get me past Elias?” My voice threaded through the room, thin and frail as the hope clinging to it.

  
“You would fit into a shipping crate.”

  
“You don’t think he has some sort of tracking device on me somewhere?”

  
“You don’t think we have the technology to counter that?”

  
I smirked and clenched my fists on the table. “He’d know who took me and where I went. He’d come after you. To kill you. He swore to it. And your Emissary’s negotiations with the Galactic Consulate—“

  
“Are falling apart.” The Abarra strolled to the table between us. “It would be our way of… how did you put it… thumbing my nose,” he ran a claw over the end of his snout, “at the Commander’s sham of a negotiation.”

  
I grinned wide, then slapped a hand over my mouth as the dragon’s hackles rose in reflex. I mumbled an apology and composed myself. 

  
“You agree, then?”

  
“Yes! Yes of course I want the hell out of here! Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” I squealed and tackled the long beast in a full body hug.

  
Blue dipped his head and purred. “Excellent. Now. Tell me more about the resources of this little planet you lived on. Tell me about the abundance of water.”

* * *

One foot carefully placed in front of the other, my back to the wall of the corridor. Crew members skirted around me creating a bottleneck in the flow of traffic. I pressed further into the wall, my hands flattened at my sides. Squinting through the crowds I could make out two synthetic Abarra crests. The only two aboard the ship. I bit my lip and angled my head for a better view. The crowd parted, and I glimpsed Captain Ohsen’s green eyes. My face scrunched, my own eyes squeezed shut and I leaned forward hissing my breath between my teeth. Maybe they hadn’t seen me. I looked up from my perch on the wall. They were gone.

  
I leaned out from the wall to get a better view. At a nudge on my shoulder I jumped and stumbled away from my perch, rounding on the individual who touched me. Captain Ohsen’s face dipped in a slow arc to stare, one eye at a time, into my face. I shoved at his snout and backed up a couple steps, making a sour lemon face as I did. 

  
“ _Boundaries_ , please.” I boxed in an area around my body with my arms.

  
Ohsen’s chest burst into color and I scrambled to pull out my translator. “Why are you lurking in corridors?” His head swung down the hall in the direction I had originally come from. “The Galley is that way. I don’t recall you being granted permission for any other locations besides your shared suite.”

  
“I…” I took a step backwards, one hand pressed to the wall, one hand gesturing impotently in the air between us. My gaze bounced around, searching for an excuse. “I got lost.”

  
The large pseudo-reptilian shifted his weight, three eyes glaring down on me. “Then I will _un_ -lost you.” He grabbed my arm, long fingers curled around my bicep, and lifted it at an awkward angle to drag me down the corridor. I pried at the fingers as I stumbled along. 

  
“Let go! I can walk! This hurts!” 

  
He yanked me around like a parent with an errant child and shoved one glaring eye in my face. I flinched back, straining my neck for some distance and still fighting his grip.

  
“You have already been told that you are not allowed access to technology beyond your species’ current ability. But I find you wandering the halls of this ship as though you had free reign.” One side of his lip plates curled up under his ominous glare. “ _You_ should be in a _cage_.”

  
I shook my head, my eyes bulging and my mouth agape. “No! No!” I swallowed hard. “The Admiral said—“

  
“Does the Admiral know where you are _right now_?”  
My jaw worked, trying to conjure up anything to keep me out of that cage.

  
“He does now.”

  
My heart seized in my chest. The reflection of my own pupils dilating in his eye mirrored the crush of my spirit.

  
“Is… is he coming?”

  
“No. I will deal with you myself.” Captain Ohsen yanked me forward and resumed dragging me like a child down the corridor. I withered under every surprised look and shocked gasp as I was man-handled back to my room and tossed through the doorway. 

  
I crashed to the floor on my shoulder, wincing and biting back a yelp. My translator skittered across the floor. Blue froze in place, his muscular body tensed and his wings twitched. His gaze flicked from me to the furious officer stomping in behind me. When the door whooshed shut, the Abarra Ambassador exploded in flapping wings and raised hackles and hissing rage.

  
“What is the meaning of this? What have you done? Why is my privacy intruded upon? What is the cause for your aggressions?”

  
I rolled into a squat between the two angry beasts, blinking and poised to dash for safety. I glanced from one to the other, not really sure who was being yelled at. The Captain’s mechanized display of aggression paled next to the riotous shades of blue in the Abarra’s underwings and raised skin flaps. I stretched my arms to one side, attempting to vacate the center of this violent clash. 

  
Blue’s head snapped to my movement and I froze, staring up at him from the floor. He pointed at the ground to his side. I felt my own ire creep up through my spine. My wide-eyed gaze narrowed as I focused on the finger holding such a demeaning gesture. His words crashed back through my mind, I’ll never treat you like a pet, he’d said. With a huff, I stood in place and turned to face the Captain.

  
“Captain Ohsen.” The mechanized Cyta continued posturing for Blue. I cleared my throat and raised my volume, taking a step toward the Captain—and the center of hostilities. “Captain! That was entirely unnecessary. I am fully capable of _walking_. All you had to do was point me in the direction of the Galley. I _told_ you I got lost. There was no need to drag me through the halls on display like some kind of animal! I expect an apology.”

  
White wings snapped out as the ship’s Captain rounded on me, his neck craned in a fearsome arc. “Your expectations are misplaced. _Human_. You are not allowed to wander this ship. The Third Ambassador agreed to keep you in line with approved behaviors and you have both failed on this front.” He pointed a clawed finger at me. “This one needs to be locked up in a cage, but I have been over-ruled. For now. Keep her inside this room. Her rations will be sent here.” 

  
The door slipped open as he whirled and stormed out. My further protests died in my mouth while I watched the Captain’s form swallowed by the sealing of the door behind him. I rubbed my temples and let out a heavy breath. Blue shook out his wings and shivered as his flaps settled back against his neck, but he continued to glare at the door.

  
“How far did you get this time?”

  
“Two corridors. That’s it.” I sighed and looked up. “It’s like he knew I was coming and was standing there…” I glared at the walls. “…waiting for me.” My fist connected with the paneling. “He _knew_ I was coming.” I peered at the Abarra Ambassador over my shoulder. “It’s the Bane. The ship told him I was exploring.” I thumped my fist against the wall again. “Why can’t you be on _my_ side for once? I just want to go home! Is that really so hard to understand? I don’t belong out here. I don’t want to be experimented on. I didn’t ask for this. There are so many freaks on my planet that would volunteer and never complain! Why me?” 

My voice cracked and I choked on a sob. “Why did it have to be me?” I fell against the wall and slid down into a heap. “Do you know what they did to my squad? Those were good soldiers. They had families. Children who will never see their parents again. And I had to watch it all. Strapped to a seat… watching all my friends—my brothers and sisters at arms—chopped up like tomatoes in a blender. It didn’t have to happen that way.” My voice trailed off in a whimper.

  
Blue stood over me, arms out to the side like he’d meant to catch me when I slid down, but was afraid to touch me. His brows drew up and his wings lifted off his back. His head snaked side to side in a slow rhythm. “Little one. I… had no idea.” He lowered himself to the floor next to me, arms and wings out to form a cocoon around me. “We Abarra will not leave you behind. I promise you this. We will take you from these—word does not translate—and bring you safely back to your planet of origin.”

* * *

  
The door loomed before me like a vault to hell. Behind it lay the Devil himself awaiting the personal delivery of my soul. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and jumped when the thing whooshed open.

  
“Come in, come in, Miss Riley Cho. Kinda rude to stand around outside.” His voice floated out like smooth oil. I blinked. He used his own voice, not the translator. I glanced down at the small glass device in my hand. Why would he change out of the Abarra body?

  
I passed from the corridor into the Admiral’s suite. The hairs on the back of my neck flagged and chills raced up my spine. I brushed off a shiver as my legs carried me to the center of the room. Elias stood in his original bipedal form, slinging lines of light across the expanse of his work space. I stood at the edge and watched a bright red streak bend and twist, curving over my head and dipping down to the floor before swinging back toward its wrangler.

  
Elias’s bright white eyes slid sidelong to take me in. “It’s like a game. But not.” He tapped at a square in front of his face and unsnapped the device at his wrist. Stepping down off the platform, he held the device out in one hand, gesturing me closer with the other. “I’ll show you.”

  
I shook my head. “I’m fine, thanks.”

  
The Cyta continued forward, a frown touching his mouth. “You need to see this.” He took my wrist in one hand, the smooth metal of his digits wrapped softly over my skin and tugged me to the center of the platform. I dug my heels in, but his grip tightened, and my boots squeaked across the floor. 

  
When he stopped, he stood behind me, reaching over my shoulder to attach the device—which swallowed my wrist and hand. It snapped down, folding in on itself, until it snugged against my arm. I gawked at the intruding thing, holding my arm out away from myself. The Admiral guided my arm by weaving his thick fingers between mine. I cringed away from the intimate touch and backed into his torso. I jumped forward into his free arm, which wrapped across my waist. I twisted to look up. He stared down at me. Smirking. When I stilled in his arms, he winked. 

  
“I only bite on request, Riley.”

  
My eyes went wide, breath drawn in sharp. My skin crawled with his gentle violations. This close, I could feel his chest move with breath. The air from his words tickled over my cheek. He moved in closer. There was no escape. I held very still and stared at our interlocked hands. His other palm smoothed over my hip. His cheek plates pressed into my hair. I trembled and bit my lip. 

  
“Relax,” his voice purred against my skin. He shifted, pulling me with him. “Relax.”

  
My eyes squeezed shut. Lines of light sprang up behind my eyelids. I gasped. My eyes flung open. Those lines swirled in my vision. Each one tugged from a center point within my chest, bursting forth from my fingertips. Elias chuckled. My body stiffened. Every line held a distinct individuality. They whispered into my mind, speaking of goals and direction. I tossed my head back and tried to shake the device off my wrist. 

  
“Each being on this ship has a line.” Elias guided my hand in a broad upswing. “The lines flow around each other, affecting trajectories, densities, velocities.” 

  
I sucked in breath and my heart froze in my chest. A thin blue line danced around a bright green one. The green line anchored in my own soul. Elias reached for the twine. He coiled them around our fingers and held them captive before my eyes. I gaped, mortified.   


“What do you hear?” An edge of steel lined his soft voice.

  
My heart sunk through my chest. I bit my lip to quell the tremble. The lines murmured betrayals. To each other, about those around them. Not in words I could understand, but in feelings, motivations. Elias moved behind me. His head so close to mine he could lick my cheek. The Cyta’s white eyes bored into mine from the side. I turned away, burying my face in my own shoulder, and choked back a whimper. His arms around me hardened into iron. The metals of his body cooled, chilling me to the core.

  
“You understand now? Because I’d hate to have to do something about this.” 

  
I nodded into my shoulder, eyes squeezed shut.

  
He shook me, moving our hands to flick the lines away. His fingers pinched the blue one, pulling it out from the green. Holding it up and twisting it to one side, then the other, he hummed. The vibration trickled along the side of my head. 

  
“I hold the lives of everyone onboard this ship, _literally_ , in my hands.” He leaned low, murmuring into my ear. “I made you a promise, do you remember what I said?” I peeked from my shelter and nodded. “Good.” He flicked the blue line away. “You will never escape my ship. You will never return to Earth. If you escape your next home, I will find you. I will terminate all that try to help you. You cannot escape me.” The blue line quivered in time with my heartbeat as it swam before us. 

  
Fear and hopelessness pooled in my gut, but outrage warmed my veins. My eyes narrowed and my lip curled. “Fuck you, Elias,” I breathed.

  
He chuckled against my hair. “Always the fighter. That’s why I like you, Miss Riley Cho.”

  
My rage ignited at his taunt. Burning through my mind with impossible vengeance. “I. Will. Bury. You.” I twisted to face him. Eye to eye with the demon holding all the cards. “I promise you that.” 

  
His white eyes flashed a bright, cold blue. Humor fled his face, lip plates pursed in a straight line. He released me and swung one arm wide, bringing the cage into my view. “Be careful with that spirit of yours, Miss Riley Cho. You may yet find yourself ‘fighting’ from inside your safety net.” His head cocked to one side, blue eyes softening into a pale, near white. One hand lifted, palm up, fingers uncurled, between us. “I’m only trying to keep you safe, Little Lady. You’ve taken up a dangerous game of intrigue and the players are not who you think they are.” His hand dropped away as he smirked. “I’m actually the good guy in all this.”

  
I glared defiance. My fists tightened at my sides. “You make me sick. You ordained the dismembering deaths of my—“

  
“That was an unfortunate accident, Riley,” he held up both hands in a pacifying gesture.

  
“Your mercenaries killed my brothers and sisters at arms!” I lunged one step forward. “They took me _against my will_! How are you okay with ANY of this?”

  
“You were selected after a great deal of study.” He stood his ground, feet planted.

  
My fists raised and jerked with the fury of my voice. “People died, Elias! And I had to watch them! Right in front of me!”

  
“Riley…”

  
“Now you want to parade around like you’re some kind of benevolent saint—“

  
“Miss Riley—“

  
“And you think—What?” My arms flung out from my sides. I leaned into the rampage. “That I’m just gonna… gonna go along with it? That I’ll just dismiss everything that happened to bring me here as okay? That it was just a means to an end?”

  
“Riley Cho!” His voice boomed, eyes flushed blue, body rigid.

  
“No! Fuck you! Kill me now, Elias. Do it! Because I’m never gonna stop trying to escape. You hear me?”

  
He glanced over shoulder at the cage and back to me.

  
“Never.” I seethed.

  
Blue eyes closed. The broad white chest swelled with a deep breath, held for a second, and released in a slow stream. When his eyes opened they were a pale, dead white. “Fair enough. That outburst was a long time in coming. I’ll grant you this one. Mind yourself. The next misstep lands you in a cage. And if you’re lucky, I’ll leave you conscious for the remainder of your journey.”

  
“There.” He grabbed my arm and unsnapped the device from my wrist. “I can be as reasonable as I can be methodical.” He winked at me. “You may return to your quarters, Miss Riley Cho.” He dropped my hand and attached the device to his own wrist. Holding my gaze, he flung all the lines out and brought in a green line with a thin blue one circling around it. Then he pulled a red and yellow line over. The three lines twirled around the green. His fingers flicked out in their pathway. The green line wove between thick, white digits and the blue, red, and yellow lines zipped away in varying angles. He examined the captive green line. 

  
I backed away, then broke into a run for the door. It slid open and I pelted through it. Dodging bodies, my vision blurred by the tears streaking across my cheeks, my legs pumped in time to the rhythm of my heartbeat. The Admiral's tepid violations chased me through the corridors in a blind run. My breath chugged in ragged gasps, punctuated with choked whimpers. I turned one corner after another searching for an escape beyond my reach.

  
My legs stumbled, my feet tripped, I tumbled into a heap and rolled up against a double door. I wiped at my bleary eyes and stared up at the geometric shapes projected above my head. The language lessons trickled back through my mind. Cargo storage. I pulled myself off the floor and searched for a key pad.

  
“Bane…” my voice cracked. “Please… hide me.” My lip quivered and I bit it to hide the tremor. “Please?” A hologram materialized to one side. A small square filled with smaller squares. I studied the keypad and tapped in the pattern for Blue's door. A muffled clunk echoed beyond the walls, followed by a hiss, and then the doors slid open. I hesitated at the threshold. Why do the doors seal airtight? I shook my head, glanced over my shoulder at the empty corridor, and dashed inside. The clunk-hiss of the door seal made me jump and I spared a second to rethink hiding in an airtight cargo hold. But only a second.

  
The floor vibrated with the thrum of the Bane's engines. I stood a few feet from the door surveying crates, boxes, pallets netted with cargo straps, and all the dark spaces in-between. Elias proved his omnipresence a few moments ago, hiding where he couldn’t _find_ me was out of the question… but hiding where he couldn’t get to me held a sliver of merit. 

  
My gaze followed a tall web of cargo netting to a tight crawl space near the top. I scrambled up the precarious mountain gasping and grinding my teeth as it shifted beneath me. Small metal boxes poured out of one bottom corner and the tower leaned hard. My grip tightened. My feet swung out. I pried my eyes open, gaping in the direction of the doors. Which opened. 

  
Captain Ohsen and three more dark colored Cyta rushed in. They scattered around the crashing wave of cargo. I rode the netting down and leaped away as it cascaded to the floor. Boxes tumbled over me. A crate shoved against my back, knocking the wind from me. I cradled my head in my hands but one arm yanked away when a heavy box caught my elbow. I yelped at the painful wrench. Agony sliced up my arm into my neck. My jaw clenched tight, eyes squeezed shut. Tears jerked from my eyes and wet my cheeks. 

  
When the avalanche ceased, I found myself under the crush of loose cargo, gasping for breath, and praying not to be heard. A rustling shifting sound materialized my fears and in the grip of terror I watched dark gray hands pull metal boxes off me. Two sets of blue eyes glared down at me from stern gray faces, edged with scares and chunks in the plating. A cold wash of fear drained through my body, leaving me shivering in its wake. My torso and one arm still pinned, I twisted away from them groaning with the effort to wrench myself free. My elbow popped, the sound reverberating alongside my choked scream. I slumped into the floor.

  
Captain Ohsen stepped into view and crouched next to my head. I glared daggers up at him. He growled something in a language I hadn’t heard yet. It had a ring of Latin to it, but with the guttural harsh consonants of Italian or German. There was a lot of spitting involved. I winced under the shower, and wiped at my face. 

When he stared down his aristocratic nose at me I snarled, in English, “ _Say_ it--don't _spray_ it!” He slow blinked. His white hand lifted. It came across my cheek like an iron skillet. I bit my tongue in the impact. Blood ran down my throat tasting of salt and hate and angry desperation. When the two gray Cyta pulled me from the wreckage, I spit blood in their faces and sneered a crimson smeared grin at Ohsen.

  
He shook his head. “You'll never learn.” He grabbed my hair and yanked me from the crushing grasp of the Cyta wiping red laced spit from his cheek plates. I cried out as my scalp ripped loose in places. My functioning hand went to my hair trying to relieve the torture. Ohsen pulled me onto my toes, bending to be inches from my face. He heaved an angry breath, the heat blew across my skin like a sun scorched wind. “You're nothing more than a clever animal.”

  
My blood boiled into a wordless rage the screeched passed my teeth with all the pent up venom and loathing I possessed. I swung at his face. My hand connected with a brick wall. He flinched. I grabbed his wrist with my throbbing hand and lifted both feet to kick his knee joint. It clanged loud, and Ohsen released my hair. I dropped to the floor and used my shoulders for leverage to kick the same knee once more. He moved, but not before I caught the side of the joint. It creaked as he staggered aside. 

  
I rolled up, ready for more, but two pairs of gray hands gripped my arms, lifting me off the floor between them. They turned with me to face the door. And Elias entered, arms crossed over his chest, head cocked to one side, eyes as blue as saphaire. My chest gripped my heart and lungs so tight I could only squirm in the pain of it. I stared at my captor, my eyes bulging in their sockets, tears burning the corners.

  
“Bane,” I whispered. “I thought you were hiding me.” I looked up at the ceiling. “I thought I could trust you.”

  
The pristine Admiral strolled into the cargo hold, narrow gaze fixed on me. “You thought wrong, Little Miss Riley Cho. The Bane led you here, because this,” his arms flung wide taking in the expansive room, “is your new home.” He gripped my jaw, tight enough to bruise, and forced my gaze up to meet his. “Didn't I warn you?” He shook his head and tsked-tsked at me. “Such a shame. Look what you've done, Little Riley.” His free hand flipped palm up as the other turned my head to a video feed floating between us. 

  
“NO!” I yelped through teeth clenched against his grip. Before my eyes, Blue was herded with spears like cattle prods, blue energy arced over his body and he writhed in soundless screams. My breath heaved in angry convulsions. My body shook and shuddered with each stroke that hit home on the Abarra. I raged and screamed again. “Please! Hes done nothing wrong! He was only trying to help! Its _my_ fault! Punish me!” I turned pleading, tear flooded eyes to my Cyta Captor. 

  
He leaned in, voice low. “Didn’t we just have this discussion? Wasn't I clear in my promise to you?” His eyes glowed a violet indigo that stole my the air from my lungs. “What did I tell you would happen if you tried to escape me, Specialist Riley Cho formerly of Earth?” The chill of his words swept through me in a hard shudder.

  
“Please. Don't.”

  
He chuckled. His smile cut with a razor’s edge, too precise to be anything but deadly. “I don't have to. They were here to ask for sanctuary.”

  
I drew a breath, turning that over in my head. “Sanctuary… from what?”

  
He smiled so sweet at the image of the three Abarra chased through the air locks connecting their ship to the Bane. “Death.” 

  
The Admiral's grip shifted from my jaw to the back of my neck. Over his shoulder I glimpsed the cage. My cage. Two more Cyta pulled the hovering abomi action I to the cargo hold. I shook my head, arms flung out against the idea. “No-no! Not that! Wait!”

  
The center bars dissolved and Elias yanked me off my feet, tossing me like a discarded doll into the cage. I scrambled to my feet and threw myself at the opening. My shoulder and head connected with an aching ring that echoed through my soul. 

  
The Admiral snapped his fingers. “Ah, ah! You almost had it. Gotta be quicker than that, little lady.” I screamed pure rage and slammed my palm against the bars. He switched to Galactic Common, the amusement dampened in his face. “Bring her things here for storage. Arrange for rations to be delivered on a regular schedule.” 

  
As he led the party to the exit, I cried out one last plea. “Wait! Wait! Just wait a minute!” The pristine white Cyta peered over shoulder. “Please.” I folded my hands and dropped to my knees. Elias turned, just outside the doors. A sadistic relish played at the corners of his mouth and sparkled in his violet-indigo eyes. “Let me say good-bye to Blue. Please. I’ll never see him again.” 

  
A smirk crawled across his face. “Aw, now, Little Lady. Why would I do a thing like that?” The doors closed in slow motion. He grinned, his wink the last I saw of him.

  
I screamed till my voice broke—till my throat was raw and bloody—till my body collapsed from exhaustion. But only the barren echoes answered me.  



	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! There is overstepping of personal boundaries in this chapter. Also, a lot of betrayals. In one scene a character forces another into a moderately intimate position.

Blue’s pupils dilated into thin slits watching the burgundy liquid slosh into my glass. I placed the decanter on the table and set my drink next to a tray of food.

  
“It’s getting stuffy in here. I’d like to get out for a change.”

  
The Abarra stared hard at my glass. “Commander Elias is still very disappointed in your behavior.”  
I snorted and lifted my juice for a sip. “If pissing him off keeps him away from me, then let me out to do more damage!”

  
Blue shook his head, two eyes squeezed shut. I fingered the translating device between us as he rose and began pacing the floor of our shared suite. “You do not like it here.” With his face to the wall, my answer would go unseen. I waited, but he remained there, contemplating the structure. “You do not want what awaits you at the end of your journey.” He peered back at me, long neck craned in an elegant curve. I shook my head. He dipped his. “I may know of a way out.”

  
The glass slipped from my hands and splashed across the table, food, and my lap, but my wide eyes were glued to the alien in front of me facing a wall. I rose on slow, shaky legs. “A way out. A way to get _me_ out. Is that what you’re saying? Are you offering me an escape?” I leaned on my hands, fingers spread in the juice puddle.

  
The Third Emissary of the Abarra straightened to his full height, wings flicked out. “I can offer you asylum with my people. From what you’ve told me over these last several cycles, your species sit on a great deal of wealth and knowledge waiting to be shared. It would be a waste to ignore Earth’s potential simply because the residents are on the cusp of interstellar travel.”

  
I gaped. “Are—are you offering to take me _home_? To _Earth_?”

  
“We would need a liaison, of course. Someone who has a grasp on both cultures to avoid any grievous misunderstandings.”

  
My heart beat fast and hard at the thought of escape. “How would you get me past Elias?” My voice threaded through the room, thin and frail as the hope clinging to it.

  
“You would fit into a shipping crate.”

  
“You don’t think he has some sort of tracking device on me somewhere?”

  
“You don’t think we have the technology to counter that?”

  
I smirked and clenched my fists on the table. “He’d know who took me and where I went. He’d come after you. To kill you. He swore to it. And your Emissary’s negotiations with the Galactic Consulate—“

  
“Are falling apart.” The Abarra strolled to the table between us. “It would be our way of… how did you put it… thumbing my nose,” he ran a claw over the end of his snout, “at the Commander’s sham of a negotiation.”

  
I grinned wide, then slapped a hand over my mouth as the dragon’s hackles rose in reflex. I mumbled an apology and composed myself.

  
“You agree, then?”

  
“Yes! Yes of course I want the hell out of here! Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” I squealed and tackled the long beast in a full body hug.

  
Blue dipped his head and purred. “Excellent. Now. Tell me more about the resources of this little planet you lived on. Tell me about the abundance of water.”

* * *

 

One foot carefully placed in front of the other, my back to the wall of the corridor. Crew members skirted around me creating a bottleneck in the flow of traffic. I pressed further into the wall, my hands flattened at my sides. Squinting through the crowds I could make out two synthetic Abarra crests. The only two aboard the ship. I bit my lip and angled my head for a better view. The crowd parted, and I glimpsed Captain Ohsen’s green eyes. My face scrunched, my own eyes squeezed shut and I leaned forward hissing my breath between my teeth. Maybe they hadn’t seen me. I looked up from my perch on the wall. They were gone.

  
I leaned out from the wall to get a better view. At a nudge on my shoulder I jumped and stumbled away from my perch, rounding on the individual who touched me. Captain Ohsen’s face dipped in a slow arc to stare, one eye at a time, into my face. I shoved at his snout and backed up a couple steps, making a sour lemon face as I did.

  
“ _Boundaries_ , please.” I boxed in an area around my body with my arms.

  
Ohsen’s chest burst into color and I scrambled to pull out my translator. “Why are you lurking in corridors?” His head swung down the hall in the direction I had originally come from. “The Galley is that way. I don’t recall you being granted permission for any other locations besides your shared suite.”

  
“I…” I took a step backwards, one hand pressed to the wall, one hand gesturing impotently in the air between us. My gaze bounced around, searching for an excuse. “I got lost.”

  
The large pseudo-reptilian shifted his weight, three eyes glaring down on me. “Then I will _un_ -lost you.” He grabbed my arm, long fingers curled around my bicep, and lifted it at an awkward angle to drag me down the corridor. I pried at the fingers as I stumbled along.

  
“Let go! I can walk! This hurts!”

  
He yanked me around like a parent with an errant child and shoved one glaring eye in my face. I flinched back, straining my neck for some distance and still fighting his grip.

  
“You have already been told that you are not allowed access to technology beyond your species’ current ability. But I find you wandering the halls of this ship as though you had free reign.” One side of his lip plates curled up under his ominous glare. “ _You_ should be in a _cage_.”

  
I shook my head, my eyes bulging and my mouth agape. “No! No!” I swallowed hard. “The Admiral said—“

  
“Does the Admiral know where you are _right now_?”  
My jaw worked, trying to conjure up anything to keep me out of that cage.

  
“He does now.”

  
My heart seized in my chest. The reflection of my own pupils dilating in his eye mirrored the crush of my spirit.

  
“Is… is he coming?”

  
“No. I will deal with you myself.” Captain Ohsen yanked me forward and resumed dragging me like a child down the corridor. I withered under every surprised look and shocked gasp as I was man-handled back to my room and tossed through the doorway.

  
I crashed to the floor on my shoulder, wincing and biting back a yelp. My translator skittered across the floor. Blue froze in place, his muscular body tensed and his wings twitched. His gaze flicked from me to the furious officer stomping in behind me. When the door whooshed shut, the Abarra Ambassador exploded in flapping wings and raised hackles and hissing rage.

  
“What is the meaning of this? What have you done? Why is my privacy intruded upon? What is the cause for your aggressions?”

  
I rolled into a squat between the two angry beasts, blinking and poised to dash for safety. I glanced from one to the other, not really sure who was being yelled at. The Captain’s mechanized display of aggression paled next to the riotous shades of blue in the Abarra’s underwings and raised skin flaps. I stretched my arms to one side, attempting to vacate the center of this violent clash.

  
Blue’s head snapped to my movement and I froze, staring up at him from the floor. He pointed at the ground to his side. I felt my own ire creep up through my spine. My wide-eyed gaze narrowed as I focused on the finger holding such a demeaning gesture. His words crashed back through my mind, I’ll never treat you like a pet, he’d said. With a huff, I stood in place and turned to face the Captain.

  
“Captain Ohsen.” The mechanized Cyta continued posturing for Blue. I cleared my throat and raised my volume, taking a step toward the Captain—and the center of hostilities. “Captain! That was entirely unnecessary. I am fully capable of _walking_. All you had to do was point me in the direction of the Galley. I _told_ you I got lost. There was no need to drag me through the halls on display like some kind of animal! I expect an apology.”

  
White wings snapped out as the ship’s Captain rounded on me, his neck craned in a fearsome arc. “Your expectations are misplaced. _Human_. You are not allowed to wander this ship. The Third Ambassador agreed to keep you in line with approved behaviors and you have both failed on this front.” He pointed a clawed finger at me. “This one needs to be locked up in a cage, but I have been over-ruled. For now. Keep her inside this room. Her rations will be sent here.”

  
The door slipped open as he whirled and stormed out. My further protests died in my mouth while I watched the Captain’s form swallowed by the sealing of the door behind him. I rubbed my temples and let out a heavy breath. Blue shook out his wings and shivered as his flaps settled back against his neck, but he continued to glare at the door.

  
“How far did you get this time?”

  
“Two corridors. That’s it.” I sighed and looked up. “It’s like he knew I was coming and was standing there…” I glared at the walls. “…waiting for me.” My fist connected with the paneling. “He _knew_ I was coming.” I peered at the Abarra Ambassador over my shoulder. “It’s the Bane. The ship told him I was exploring.” I thumped my fist against the wall again. “Why can’t you be on _my_ side for once? I just want to go home! Is that really so hard to understand? I don’t belong out here. I don’t want to be experimented on. I didn’t ask for this. There are so many freaks on my planet that would volunteer and never complain! Why me?”

My voice cracked and I choked on a sob. “Why did it have to be me?” I fell against the wall and slid down into a heap. “Do you know what they did to my squad? Those were good soldiers. They had families. Children who will never see their parents again. And I had to watch it all. Strapped to a seat… watching all my friends—my brothers and sisters at arms—chopped up like tomatoes in a blender. It didn’t have to happen that way.” My voice trailed off in a whimper.

  
Blue stood over me, arms out to the side like he’d meant to catch me when I slid down, but was afraid to touch me. His brows drew up and his wings lifted off his back. His head snaked side to side in a slow rhythm. “Little one. I… had no idea.” He lowered himself to the floor next to me, arms and wings out to form a cocoon around me. “We Abarra will not leave you behind. I promise you this. We will take you from these—word does not translate—and bring you safely back to your planet of origin.”

* * *

 

  
The door loomed before me like a vault to hell. Behind it lay the Devil himself awaiting the personal delivery of my soul. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and jumped when the thing whooshed open.

  
“Come in, come in, Miss Riley Cho. Kinda rude to stand around outside.” His voice floated out like smooth oil. I blinked. He used his own voice, not the translator. I glanced down at the small glass device in my hand. Why would he change out of the Abarra body?

  
I passed from the corridor into the Admiral’s suite. The hairs on the back of my neck flagged and chills raced up my spine. I brushed off a shiver as my legs carried me to the center of the room. Elias stood in his original bipedal form, slinging lines of light across the expanse of his work space. I stood at the edge and watched a bright red streak bend and twist, curving over my head and dipping down to the floor before swinging back toward its wrangler.

  
Elias’s bright white eyes slid sidelong to take me in. “It’s like a game. But not.” He tapped at a square in front of his face and unsnapped the device at his wrist. Stepping down off the platform, he held the device out in one hand, gesturing me closer with the other. “I’ll show you.”

  
I shook my head. “I’m fine, thanks.”

  
The Cyta continued forward, a frown touching his mouth. “You need to see this.” He took my wrist in one hand, the smooth metal of his digits wrapped softly over my skin and tugged me to the center of the platform. I dug my heels in, but his grip tightened, and my boots squeaked across the floor.

  
When he stopped, he stood behind me, reaching over my shoulder to attach the device—which swallowed my wrist and hand. It snapped down, folding in on itself, until it snugged against my arm. I gawked at the intruding thing, holding my arm out away from myself. The Admiral guided my arm by weaving his thick fingers between mine. I cringed away from the intimate touch and backed into his torso. I jumped forward into his free arm, which wrapped across my waist. I twisted to look up. He stared down at me. Smirking. When I stilled in his arms, he winked.

  
“I only bite on request, Riley.”

  
My eyes went wide, breath drawn in sharp. My skin crawled with his gentle violations. This close, I could feel his chest move with breath. The air from his words tickled over my cheek. He moved in closer. There was no escape. I held very still and stared at our interlocked hands. His other palm smoothed over my hip. His cheek plates pressed into my hair. I trembled and bit my lip.

  
“Relax,” his voice purred against my skin. He shifted, pulling me with him. “Relax.”

  
My eyes squeezed shut. Lines of light sprang up behind my eyelids. I gasped. My eyes flung open. Those lines swirled in my vision. Each one tugged from a center point within my chest, bursting forth from my fingertips. Elias chuckled. My body stiffened. Every line held a distinct individuality. They whispered into my mind, speaking of goals and direction. I tossed my head back and tried to shake the device off my wrist.

  
“Each being on this ship has a line.” Elias guided my hand in a broad upswing. “The lines flow around each other, affecting trajectories, densities, velocities.”

  
I sucked in breath and my heart froze in my chest. A thin blue line danced around a bright green one. The green line anchored in my own soul. Elias reached for the twine. He coiled them around our fingers and held them captive before my eyes. I gaped, mortified. 

“What do you hear?” An edge of steel lined his soft voice.

  
My heart sunk through my chest. I bit my lip to quell the tremble. The lines murmured betrayals. To each other, about those around them. Not in words I could understand, but in feelings, motivations. Elias moved behind me. His head so close to mine he could lick my cheek. The Cyta’s white eyes bored into mine from the side. I turned away, burying my face in my own shoulder, and choked back a whimper. His arms around me hardened into iron. The metals of his body cooled, chilling me to the core.

  
“You understand now? Because I’d hate to have to do something about this.”

  
I nodded into my shoulder, eyes squeezed shut.

  
He shook me, moving our hands to flick the lines away. His fingers pinched the blue one, pulling it out from the green. Holding it up and twisting it to one side, then the other, he hummed. The vibration trickled along the side of my head.

  
“I hold the lives of everyone onboard this ship, _literally_ , in my hands.” He leaned low, murmuring into my ear. “I made you a promise, do you remember what I said?” I peeked from my shelter and nodded. “Good.” He flicked the blue line away. “You will never escape my ship. You will never return to Earth. If you escape your next home, I will find you. I will terminate all that try to help you. You cannot escape me.” The blue line quivered in time with my heartbeat as it swam before us.

  
Fear and hopelessness pooled in my gut, but outrage warmed my veins. My eyes narrowed and my lip curled. “Fuck you, Elias,” I breathed.

  
He chuckled against my hair. “Always the fighter. That’s why I like you, Miss Riley Cho.”

  
My rage ignited at his taunt. Burning through my mind with impossible vengeance. “I. Will. Bury. You.” I twisted to face him. Eye to eye with the demon holding all the cards. “I promise you that.”

  
His white eyes flashed a bright, cold blue. Humor fled his face, lip plates pursed in a straight line. He released me and swung one arm wide, bringing the cage into my view. “Be careful with that spirit of yours, Miss Riley Cho. You may yet find yourself ‘fighting’ from inside your safety net.” His head cocked to one side, blue eyes softening into a pale, near white. One hand lifted, palm up, fingers uncurled, between us. “I’m only trying to keep you safe, Little Lady. You’ve taken up a dangerous game of intrigue and the players are not who you think they are.” His hand dropped away as he smirked. “I’m actually the good guy in all this.”

  
I glared defiance. My fists tightened at my sides. “You make me sick. You ordained the dismembering deaths of my—“

  
“That was an unfortunate accident, Riley,” he held up both hands in a pacifying gesture.

  
“Your mercenaries killed my brothers and sisters at arms!” I lunged one step forward. “They took me _against my will_! How are you okay with ANY of this?”

  
“You were selected after a great deal of study.” He stood his ground, feet planted.

  
My fists raised and jerked with the fury of my voice. “People died, Elias! And I had to watch them! Right in front of me!”

  
“Riley…”

  
“Now you want to parade around like you’re some kind of benevolent saint—“

  
“Miss Riley—“

  
“And you think—What?” My arms flung out from my sides. I leaned into the rampage. “That I’m just gonna… gonna go along with it? That I’ll just dismiss everything that happened to bring me here as okay? That it was just a means to an end?”

  
“Riley Cho!” His voice boomed, eyes flushed blue, body rigid.

  
“No! Fuck you! Kill me now, Elias. Do it! Because I’m never gonna stop trying to escape. You hear me?”

  
He glanced over shoulder at the cage and back to me.

  
“Never.” I seethed.

  
Blue eyes closed. The broad white chest swelled with a deep breath, held for a second, and released in a slow stream. When his eyes opened they were a pale, dead white. “Fair enough. That outburst was a long time in coming. I’ll grant you this one. Mind yourself. The next misstep lands you in a cage. And if you’re lucky, I’ll leave you conscious for the remainder of your journey.”

  
“There.” He grabbed my arm and unsnapped the device from my wrist. “I can be as reasonable as I can be methodical.” He winked at me. “You may return to your quarters, Miss Riley Cho.” He dropped my hand and attached the device to his own wrist. Holding my gaze, he flung all the lines out and brought in a green line with a thin blue one circling around it. Then he pulled a red and yellow line over. The three lines twirled around the green. His fingers flicked out in their pathway. The green line wove between thick, white digits and the blue, red, and yellow lines zipped away in varying angles. He examined the captive green line.

  
I backed away, then broke into a run for the door. It slid open and I pelted through it. Dodging bodies, my vision blurred by the tears streaking across my cheeks, my legs pumped in time to the rhythm of my heartbeat. The Admiral's tepid violations chased me through the corridors in a blind run. My breath chugged in ragged gasps, punctuated with choked whimpers. I turned one corner after another searching for an escape beyond my reach.

  
My legs stumbled, my feet tripped, I tumbled into a heap and rolled up against a double door. I wiped at my bleary eyes and stared up at the geometric shapes projected above my head. The language lessons trickled back through my mind. Cargo storage. I pulled myself off the floor and searched for a key pad.

  
“Bane…” my voice cracked. “Please… hide me.” My lip quivered and I bit it to hide the tremor. “Please?” A hologram materialized to one side. A small square filled with smaller squares. I studied the keypad and tapped in the pattern for Blue's door. A muffled clunk echoed beyond the walls, followed by a hiss, and then the doors slid open. I hesitated at the threshold. Why do the doors seal airtight? I shook my head, glanced over my shoulder at the empty corridor, and dashed inside. The clunk-hiss of the door seal made me jump and I spared a second to rethink hiding in an airtight cargo hold. But only a second.

  
The floor vibrated with the thrum of the Bane's engines. I stood a few feet from the door surveying crates, boxes, pallets netted with cargo straps, and all the dark spaces in-between. Elias proved his omnipresence a few moments ago, hiding where he couldn’t _find_ me was out of the question… but hiding where he couldn’t get to me held a sliver of merit.

  
My gaze followed a tall web of cargo netting to a tight crawl space near the top. I scrambled up the precarious mountain gasping and grinding my teeth as it shifted beneath me. Small metal boxes poured out of one bottom corner and the tower leaned hard. My grip tightened. My feet swung out. I pried my eyes open, gaping in the direction of the doors. Which opened.

  
Captain Ohsen and three more dark colored Cyta rushed in. They scattered around the crashing wave of cargo. I rode the netting down and leaped away as it cascaded to the floor. Boxes tumbled over me. A crate shoved against my back, knocking the wind from me. I cradled my head in my hands but one arm yanked away when a heavy box caught my elbow. I yelped at the painful wrench. Agony sliced up my arm into my neck. My jaw clenched tight, eyes squeezed shut. Tears jerked from my eyes and wet my cheeks.

  
When the avalanche ceased, I found myself under the crush of loose cargo, gasping for breath, and praying not to be heard. A rustling shifting sound materialized my fears and in the grip of terror I watched dark gray hands pull metal boxes off me. Two sets of blue eyes glared down at me from stern gray faces, edged with scares and chunks in the plating. A cold wash of fear drained through my body, leaving me shivering in its wake. My torso and one arm still pinned, I twisted away from them groaning with the effort to wrench myself free. My elbow popped, the sound reverberating alongside my choked scream. I slumped into the floor.

  
Captain Ohsen stepped into view and crouched next to my head. I glared daggers up at him. He growled something in a language I hadn’t heard yet. It had a ring of Latin to it, but with the guttural harsh consonants of Italian or German. There was a lot of spitting involved. I winced under the shower, and wiped at my face.

When he stared down his aristocratic nose at me I snarled, in English, “ _Say_ it--don't _spray_ it!” He slow blinked. His white hand lifted. It came across my cheek like an iron skillet. I bit my tongue in the impact. Blood ran down my throat tasting of salt and hate and angry desperation. When the two gray Cyta pulled me from the wreckage, I spit blood in their faces and sneered a crimson smeared grin at Ohsen.

  
He shook his head. “You'll never learn.” He grabbed my hair and yanked me from the crushing grasp of the Cyta wiping red laced spit from his cheek plates. I cried out as my scalp ripped loose in places. My functioning hand went to my hair trying to relieve the torture. Ohsen pulled me onto my toes, bending to be inches from my face. He heaved an angry breath, the heat blew across my skin like a sun scorched wind. “You're nothing more than a clever animal.”

  
My blood boiled into a wordless rage the screeched passed my teeth with all the pent up venom and loathing I possessed. I swung at his face. My hand connected with a brick wall. He flinched. I grabbed his wrist with my throbbing hand and lifted both feet to kick his knee joint. It clanged loud, and Ohsen released my hair. I dropped to the floor and used my shoulders for leverage to kick the same knee once more. He moved, but not before I caught the side of the joint. It creaked as he staggered aside.

  
I rolled up, ready for more, but two pairs of gray hands gripped my arms, lifting me off the floor between them. They turned with me to face the door. And Elias entered, arms crossed over his chest, head cocked to one side, eyes as blue as saphaire. My chest gripped my heart and lungs so tight I could only squirm in the pain of it. I stared at my captor, my eyes bulging in their sockets, tears burning the corners.

  
“Bane,” I whispered. “I thought you were hiding me.” I looked up at the ceiling. “I thought I could trust you.”

  
The pristine Admiral strolled into the cargo hold, narrow gaze fixed on me. “You thought wrong, Little Miss Riley Cho. The Bane led you here, because this,” his arms flung wide taking in the expansive room, “is your new home.” He gripped my jaw, tight enough to bruise, and forced my gaze up to meet his. “Didn't I warn you?” He shook his head and tsked-tsked at me. “Such a shame. Look what you've done, Little Riley.” His free hand flipped palm up as the other turned my head to a video feed floating between us.

  
“NO!” I yelped through teeth clenched against his grip. Before my eyes, Blue was herded with spears like cattle prods, blue energy arced over his body and he writhed in soundless screams. My breath heaved in angry convulsions. My body shook and shuddered with each stroke that hit home on the Abarra. I raged and screamed again. “Please! Hes done nothing wrong! He was only trying to help! Its _my_ fault! Punish me!” I turned pleading, tear flooded eyes to my Cyta Captor.

  
He leaned in, voice low. “Didn’t we just have this discussion? Wasn't I clear in my promise to you?” His eyes glowed a violet indigo that stole my the air from my lungs. “What did I tell you would happen if you tried to escape me, Specialist Riley Cho formerly of Earth?” The chill of his words swept through me in a hard shudder.

  
“Please. Don't.”

  
He chuckled. His smile cut with a razor’s edge, too precise to be anything but deadly. “I don't have to. They were here to ask for sanctuary.”

  
I drew a breath, turning that over in my head. “Sanctuary… from what?”

  
He smiled so sweet at the image of the three Abarra chased through the air locks connecting their ship to the Bane. “Death.”

  
The Admiral's grip shifted from my jaw to the back of my neck. Over his shoulder I glimpsed the cage. My cage. Two more Cyta pulled the hovering abomi action I to the cargo hold. I shook my head, arms flung out against the idea. “No-no! Not that! Wait!”

  
The center bars dissolved and Elias yanked me off my feet, tossing me like a discarded doll into the cage. I scrambled to my feet and threw myself at the opening. My shoulder and head connected with an aching ring that echoed through my soul.

  
The Admiral snapped his fingers. “Ah, ah! You almost had it. Gotta be quicker than that, little lady.” I screamed pure rage and slammed my palm against the bars. He switched to Galactic Common, the amusement dampened in his face. “Bring her things here for storage. Arrange for rations to be delivered on a regular schedule.”

  
As he led the party to the exit, I cried out one last plea. “Wait! Wait! Just wait a minute!” The pristine white Cyta peered over shoulder. “Please.” I folded my hands and dropped to my knees. Elias turned, just outside the doors. A sadistic relish played at the corners of his mouth and sparkled in his violet-indigo eyes. “Let me say good-bye to Blue. Please. I’ll never see him again.”

  
A smirk crawled across his face. “Aw, now, Little Lady. Why would I do a thing like that?” The doors closed in slow motion. He grinned, his wink the last I saw of him.

  
I screamed till my voice broke—till my throat was raw and bloody—till my body collapsed from exhaustion. But only the barren echoes answered me.


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the first act. Things move forward pretty quick from here out. I hope you've been enjoying this so far. Lots of new places, situations, and characters are coming. As well as much more action.

The dim light in the cargo hold encouraged my wandering imagination. I lost track of time after three weeks of solitude. My rations sat in a corner untouched. I pushed greasy hair aside and stared at it. Maggots crawled out of a white mush and frolicked in the gravy. I shook my head. No telling if they were real. If I backed into the other corner the cage would clean me up, degrease my hair and skin. My head lolled in that direction. I slow blinked. Nope. I heaved a sigh.

  
I bright strand broke loose at the doors and I rubbed my eyes. No one comes here, my mind screamed into the widening opening. It’s a trick—another hallucination! I squinted into the all too real light, watching three silhouettes walk through into my personal hell. The tallest one clicked, and I struggled to recall my language lessons. Another turned to respond. I recognized the voice.

  
“She’s been subdued. You’ll find her more compliant now.”

  
I stared at Elias from my lean against the cage bars. He gestured with a curling finger, Tsk-tsking as he stepped close. “Give me your hands.” I glanced down at what he held—a pair of black bracelets. No, not bracelets.

  
I shook my head and scooted to the center. He rested his forearms on the cage floor. His smirk rained victory over my dwindling hope. I watched him wave me closer with dull eyes before shaking my head again and casting my forlorn gaze away.

  
“Aw, now, Little Lady. Don’t be like that.” He jerked his head toward the tallest of my visitors. “You _have_ to be restrained for the transfer of custody.” His head tilted down, evil smirking up at me. “Especially after all the trouble you gave us.”

  
Captain Ohsen stepped into view, his face cold and calculated. I studied the disparity between the two Cyta and decided Elias was, by far, the more frightening. My gaze flicked up to this new comer, squinting at its form in the glare of the corridor lights. It clicked a long statement and I struggled to keep up. The top of its domed head sported two thin rods that waved forwards. It’s long, thick neck trickled down into a narrow body carried by two pairs of legs. The arms fell straight down and bent up in front of it and long thin hands dangled from the wrists.

  
The thing shuffled closer, taking hold of a cage bar in a clawed pincher-hand. I gasped and backpedaled to the far end of the cage. Its elongated head dropped low to peer in at me. Huge bug-eyes the size of my face reflected a million shattered version of myself. I slid to one side aiming for a little more distance. My hair lifted and my vision blurred. I vibrating hum filled my ears and I cursed under my breath as Elias laughed out loud.

  
“Well, you needed a bath!”

I scowled in his direction as the cleaning process lifted me into the air and turned me around.

  
When I found my feet, I pointed at the enormous praying mantis and glared at the Admiral. “What is that?!”

  
He clucked, making a sour face, and drew out a groan. “That's no way to greet your caretaker, Miss Riley Cho. Tucka waited a long time, went through _a lot_ of red tape just to requisition you from the GC. The least you can do is say hi to your new Master.”

  
My fists balled until the nails bit into my skin. Through hate narrowed eyes I took in Elias's smug grin. “This is the scientist, then?”

He nodded.

“And his species…?”

  
His head tilted to look down the length of his nose, blue eyes hooded by white lids. His lip curled just a smidge as he said it. “The Teptet have four genders. But ‘he' is close enough.”

  
I shifted, leaning my head against the bars. Teptet. Enemy to the Cyta. Elias's upper lip plate still cradled disdain in its curl. I ripped my gaze from the Admiral, to the distance Ohsen placed between himself and the Teptet. I straightened, chest out, stomach flat, shoulders back and carried myself across the floor of the cage with practiced military bearing. My hand flung out in a greeting gesture.

  
“Pleased to meet you Tucka. When may we depart? I'd like to rid myself of these Cyta _fleas_ immediately.” I felt the two lazering me with their eyes, but my gaze remained on the scientist.

  
He clicked slowly. “We… leave now.”

  
“Good. The sooner the better.” I nodded and held my hands out to him, wrists pressed together. “It wont be necessary, but if you need to restrain me please do.”

  
He turned to Elais, swiped the cuffs, and handed them over to me. I fingered them and cocked a puzzled brow at Tucka. “For their sensibilities.” He clicked. I smirked. The restraints snuggled over my wrists, but allowed my hands to swing naturally at my side, connected by some invisible draw. Tucka opened the cage and swung a long arm out toward the door. I stepped ahead with a thank you and exited the cargo hold.

  
Outside the doors to my left stood a cadre of Cyta in gleaming gray armor. To my right another cadre of Teptet faced down their sworn enemy. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and my spine tried to walk back into the hold without me. Silent salvos launched between the two groups like a battle waged in psyche alone. I cringed backwards into the claws of Tucka. His pincher-hands came down on my shoulders, steering me between the warring factions. I shivered. My skin crawled. Every flight instinct within me lit on fire.

  
“Miss Riley Cho.”

I peered around the body of the scientist, down through the parted ranks of Teptet, to the Cyta Admiral. Elias's armor gleamed cold and white in the corridor lighting, his eyes a violent sapphire. “Remember my promise to you.” I scowled down the ranks at him. His head dipped, blue eyes glaring up under his white lids. “Because. _I. Will_.”

  
I looked up at Tucka. His large bug eyes stared down at me. I leaned further out and flipped my middle finger up. “Fuck you, Elias.”

  
~End 1st act.~


	9. Chapter 8

The dim light in the cargo hold encouraged my wandering imagination. I lost track of time after three weeks of solitude. My rations sat in a corner untouched. I pushed greasy hair aside and stared at it. Maggots crawled out of a white mush and frolicked in the gravy. I shook my head. No telling if they were real. If I backed into the other corner the cage would clean me up, degrease my hair and skin. My head lolled in that direction. I slow blinked. Nope. I heaved a sigh.

  
I bright strand broke loose at the doors and I rubbed my eyes. No one comes here, my mind screamed into the widening opening. It’s a trick—another hallucination! I squinted into the all too real light, watching three silhouettes walk through into my personal hell. The tallest one clicked, and I struggled to recall my language lessons. Another turned to respond. I recognized the voice.

  
“She’s been subdued. You’ll find her more compliant now.”

  
I stared at Elias from my lean against the cage bars. He gestured with a curling finger, Tsk-tsking as he stepped close. “Give me your hands.” I glanced down at what he held—a pair of black bracelets. No, not bracelets.

  
I shook my head and scooted to the center. He rested his forearms on the cage floor. His smirk rained victory over my dwindling hope. I watched him wave me closer with dull eyes before shaking my head again and casting my forlorn gaze away.

  
“Aw, now, Little Lady. Don’t be like that.” He jerked his head toward the tallest of my visitors. “You _have_ to be restrained for the transfer of custody.” His head tilted down, evil smirking up at me. “Especially after all the trouble you gave us.”

  
Captain Ohsen stepped into view, his face cold and calculated. I studied the disparity between the two Cyta and decided Elias was, by far, the more frightening. My gaze flicked up to this new comer, squinting at its form in the glare of the corridor lights. It clicked a long statement and I struggled to keep up. The top of its domed head sported two thin rods that waved forwards. It’s long, thick neck trickled down into a narrow body carried by two pairs of legs. The arms fell straight down and bent up in front of it and long thin hands dangled from the wrists.

  
The thing shuffled closer, taking hold of a cage bar in a clawed pincher-hand. I gasped and backpedaled to the far end of the cage. Its elongated head dropped low to peer in at me. Huge bug-eyes the size of my face reflected a million shattered version of myself. I slid to one side aiming for a little more distance. My hair lifted and my vision blurred. I vibrating hum filled my ears and I cursed under my breath as Elias laughed out loud.

  
“Well, you needed a bath!”

I scowled in his direction as the cleaning process lifted me into the air and turned me around.

  
When I found my feet, I pointed at the enormous praying mantis and glared at the Admiral. “What is that?!”

  
He clucked, making a sour face, and drew out a groan. “That's no way to greet your caretaker, Miss Riley Cho. Tucka waited a long time, went through _a lot_ of red tape just to requisition you from the GC. The least you can do is say hi to your new Master.”

  
My fists balled until the nails bit into my skin. Through hate narrowed eyes I took in Elias's smug grin. “This is the scientist, then?”

He nodded.

“And his species…?”

  
His head tilted to look down the length of his nose, blue eyes hooded by white lids. His lip curled just a smidge as he said it. “The Teptet have four genders. But ‘he' is close enough.”

  
I shifted, leaning my head against the bars. Teptet. Enemy to the Cyta. Elias's upper lip plate still cradled disdain in its curl. I ripped my gaze from the Admiral, to the distance Ohsen placed between himself and the Teptet. I straightened, chest out, stomach flat, shoulders back and carried myself across the floor of the cage with practiced military bearing. My hand flung out in a greeting gesture.

  
“Pleased to meet you Tucka. When may we depart? I'd like to rid myself of these Cyta _fleas_ immediately.” I felt the two lazering me with their eyes, but my gaze remained on the scientist.

  
He clicked slowly. “We… leave now.”

  
“Good. The sooner the better.” I nodded and held my hands out to him, wrists pressed together. “It wont be necessary, but if you need to restrain me please do.”

  
He turned to Elais, swiped the cuffs, and handed them over to me. I fingered them and cocked a puzzled brow at Tucka. “For their sensibilities.” He clicked. I smirked. The restraints snuggled over my wrists, but allowed my hands to swing naturally at my side, connected by some invisible draw. Tucka opened the cage and swung a long arm out toward the door. I stepped ahead with a thank you and exited the cargo hold.

  
Outside the doors to my left stood a cadre of Cyta in gleaming gray armor. To my right another cadre of Teptet faced down their sworn enemy. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and my spine tried to walk back into the hold without me. Silent salvos launched between the two groups like a battle waged in psyche alone. I cringed backwards into the claws of Tucka. His pincher-hands came down on my shoulders, steering me between the warring factions. I shivered. My skin crawled. Every flight instinct within me lit on fire.

  
“Miss Riley Cho.”

I peered around the body of the scientist, down through the parted ranks of Teptet, to the Cyta Admiral. Elias's armor gleamed cold and white in the corridor lighting, his eyes a violent sapphire. “Remember my promise to you.” I scowled down the ranks at him. His head dipped, blue eyes glaring up under his white lids. “Because. _I. Will_.”

  
I looked up at Tucka. His large bug eyes stared down at me. I leaned further out and flipped my middle finger up. “Fuck you, Elias.”

  
~End 1st act.~


End file.
